What consumer protections exist for crypto assets?
There are little to no consumer protections for investing in crypto assets. This depends on jurisdiction but even in countries with advanced economies and regulatory institutions there is a lack of protection for investors because most crypto asset exist outside the regulatory perimeter.
Consumers are typically advised that all of their crypto assets can go to zero with no warning and with no recourse in the cause of fraud of platform risk.
Most crypto exchange are loosely regulated asmoney services business which generally does not provide for any consumer protection even though the entities are acting as bank-like entities on behalf of their customers. There is no deposit insurance on customer funds.
When crypto-exchanges go broke, you'll lose it all
Risk Factors
- Exit scams
- Ponzi schemes
- Money laundering
- Counterparty risk
- Platform risk
- Price risk
- Market manipulation
- Terrorism financing
References
- âGuidance on Cryptoassetsâ. 2019. Financial Conduct Authority. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/consultation/cp19-03.pdf#page=11.
- Amenta, Carlo, E Riva Sanseverino, and Carlo Stagnaro. 2021. âRegulating Blockchain for Sustainability? The Critical Relationship between Digital Innovation, Regulation, and Electricity Governanceâ. Energy Research & Social Science 76: 102060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102060.
- Arjaliès, Diane-Laure. 2020. ââAt the Very Beginning, ThereâS This Dream.â the Role of Utopia in the Workings of Local and Cryptocurrenciesâ. In Handbook of Alternative Finance. February. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333755384_AT_THE_VERY_BEGINNING_THERE'S_THIS_DREAM_THE_ROLE_OF_UTOPIA_IN_THE_WORKINGS_OF_LOCAL_AND_CRYPTOCURRENCIES.
- Azgad-Tromer, Shlomit. 2018. âCrypto Securities: On the Risks of Investments in Blockchain-Based Assets and the Dilemmas of Securities Regulationâ. Am. UL Rev. 68: 69.
- Barrett, Claer. 2021. âWhy Young Investors Bet the Farm on Cryptocurrenciesâ. Financial Times, 28 May 2021. https://www.ft.com/content/162839aa-0437-478b-a4d4-4a8d7ab71458.
- Burilov, Vlad. 2019. âRegulation of Crypto Tokens and Initial Coin Offerings in the EU: De Lege Lata and de Lege Ferendaâ. European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance 6 (2): 146â86. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134514-00602003.
- Cristina Cuervo, Anastasiia Morozova. 2020. âRegulation of Crypto Assetsâ. International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fintech-notes/Issues/2020/01/09/Regulation-of-Crypto-Assets-48810.
- Cumming, Douglas J., Sofia Johan, and Anshum Pant. 2019. âRegulation of the Crypto-Economy: Managing Risks, Challenges, and Regulatory Uncertaintyâ. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 12 (3): 126. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm12030126.
- Doody, Sean. 2020. âReactionary Technopolitics: A Critical Sociohistorical Reviewâ. Fast Capitalism 17 (1): 143â64. https://doi.org/10.32855/fcapital.202001.009.
- Eich, Stefan. 2019. âOld Utopias, New Tax Havens: The Politics of Bitcoin in Historical Perspectiveâ. Regulating Blockchain: Techno-Social and Legal Challenges, 85â98.
- Eichengreen, Barry. 2021. âFinancial Regulation in the Age of the Platform Economyâ. Journal of Banking Regulation, 1â11. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41261-021-00187-9.
- Feinstein, Brian D, and Kevin Werbach. 2020. âThe Impact of Cryptocurrency Regulation on Trading Marketsâ. http://ssrn.com/paper=3649475.
- Ferreira, Agata. 2021. âThe Curious Case of StablecoinsâBalancing Risks and Rewards?â Journal of International Economic Law 24 (4): 755â78. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgab036.
- Guadamuz, Andres, and Chris Marsden. 2015. âBlockchains and Bitcoin: Regulatory Responses to Cryptocurrenciesâ. First Monday 20 (12). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i12.6198.
- Hacker, Philipp, Ioannis Lianos, Georgios Dimitropoulos, and Stefan Eich. 2019. Regulating Blockchain:âŻ: Techno-Social and Legal Challenges. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198842187.001.0001.
- Herian, Robert. 2020. âBlockchain, GDPR, and Fantasies of Data Sovereigntyâ. Law, Innovation and Technology 12 (1): 156â74. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2020.1727094.
- Ivaniuk, Viktoria. 2020. âCryptocurrency Exchange Regulation â An International Reviewâ. Magda Dziembowska, Robert Dziembowski, Apelacja w PostÄpowaniu, 67.
- Kapsis, Ilias. 2021. âShould We Trade Market Stability for More Financial Inclusion? The Case of Crypto-Assets Regulation in EUâ. FinTech, Artificial Intelligence and the Law: Regulation and Crime Prevention, 85â104. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003020998-9.
- Nabilou, Hossein, and AndrĂŠ PrĂźm. 2019. âIgnorance, Debt, and Cryptocurrencies: The Old and the New in the Law and Economics of Concurrent Currenciesâ. Journal of Financial Regulation 5 (1): 29â63. https://doi.org/10.1093/jfr/fjz002.
- Rae, Shaela W, and Lorraine Mastersmith. 2019. âCrypto Asset Trading in Canada: Entering a New Era of Regulationâ. Banking & Finance Law Review 35 (1): 153â85.
- Schneiders, Alexandra, and David Shipworth. 2021. âCommunity Energy Groups: Can They Shield Consumers from the Risks of Using Blockchain for Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading?â Energies 14 (12). https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123569.
- Tozze, Arianna, Josh Kamps, Eray Arda Akartuna, Toby Davies, Florian Hetzel, and Shane D. Johnson. 2021. âCryptocurrencies and Future Crimeâ. Crime Science 11 (1): 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-021-00163-8.
- Xie, Rain. 2019. âWhy China Had to Ban Cryptocurrency but the U.S. Did Not: A Comparative Analysis of Regulations on Crypto-Markets between the U.S. and Chinaâ. Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev. 18 (2): 457â89. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1684&context=law_globalstudies.
- Yeung, Karen. 2019. âRegulation by Blockchain: The Emerging Battle for Supremacy between the Code of Law and Code as Lawâ. Modern Law Review 82 (2): 207â39. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12399.