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Trading in unbacked cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) should be regulated as gambling, lawmakers on the U.K. Treasury Committee urged in a report published Wednesday.
The country’s government, though, wants to regulate retail crypto trading as a financial service, the lawmakers said. That, in turn, “will create a ‘halo’ effect, leading consumers to believe this activity is safe and protected, when it is not.”
U.K. regulators have increasingly scrutinized the emerging industry, as a number of high-profile failures in recent years have drawn concerns about consumer protections. In July 2022, the Treasury Committee opened an inquiry into the risks and benefits associated with cryptos as well as how they would potentially be regulated.
“With no intrinsic value, huge price volatility and no discernible social good, consumer trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin more closely resembles gambling than a financial service, and should be regulated as such,” Harriett Baldwin, member of Parliament and chair of the Treasury Committee, said in a statement.
“By betting on these unbacked ‘tokens’, consumers should be aware that all their money could be lost,” he added.