The Bank for International Settlements issued its Bulletin entitled Addressing the risks in crypto: laying out the options to address the recent failures involving several major crypto firms.  This issues has become increasingly pressing as these emerging markets are going through booms and busts.  While they have not yet threatened financial stability the scale and prominence of these recent failures highlight the need to address the risks before crypto markets can evolve into systemic contagions.

The reports key takeaways are as follows: 

• The recent high-profile failures of FTX and other crypto firms have re-ignited the debate on the appropriate policy response to address the risks in crypto, including through regulation.
• The "shadow financial" functions enabled by crypto markets share many of the vulnerabilities of traditional finance. These risks are exacerbated by specific features of crypto.
• Authorities may consider different – not mutually exclusive – lines of action to tackle the risks in crypto. These include containment or regulation of the crypto sector or an outright ban.
• Central banks and public authorities could also work to make TradFi more attractive. A key option is to encourage sound innovation with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

A copy of the report can be viewed here.