European Commission Vice President Dombrovskis offers "if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them" approach to cryptocurrencies

• Valdis Dombrovskis comments on digital asets during press-conference in Vienna.
• The European Commission Vice President supports balanced and unified approach. 

Global regulators seem to have softened their attitude towards digital assets. Earlier we reported that New York Department of Financial Services had approved the creation of two cryptocurrency tokens pegged to USD. In Europe, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis supported the idea of creating unified rules for cryptocurrency industry in the region.

Speaking at the informal ECOFIN press conference in Vienna, he said:

"We also had a good exchange of views on crypto-assets. We see that crypto-assets are here to stay. Despite the recent turbulence, this market continues to grow."

Dombrovskis believes that initial coin offerings, or ICOs, can emerge as a viable form of financing. In 2017, companies and startups raised over $6B via this channel, while this year's figures are going to be substantially bigger.

He also noted the typical risks related to the cryptocurrencies, such as lack of transparency, weak or non-existent investor protection, low level of market integrity and vulnerability to potential fraud or hacking. With that in mind, Dombrovskis suggested that the industry needs to be monitored in cooperation with international partners to stem the threats and decide how to classify this new type of assets.

"In this context, we are currently working together with European Supervisory Authorities on what we call regulatory mapping of crypto assets to answer exactly these questions. Many Member States today supported the need for such mapping, so we expect to conclude this assessment later this year. This will provide a solid ground to build on and to decide on further steps in this area," he added.