EU Regulators Warn Again on Crypto Investment Risks

European Union regulators have repeated warnings about the risks for cryptocurrency investors.

• In the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) "Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities Report," published Wednesday, the three bodies that make up the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) said some cryptocurrencies are "highly risky and speculative."
• There's a risk investors could lose "all their money" in the largely unregulated market, they said.
• The ESMA report cited "significant risks" presented by the recent all-time highs of bitcoin and other crypto assets.
• The ESAs pointed to the "continued relevance" of their previous warnings.
• More generally, global stablecoins remain under regulatory scrutiny even if there is positive sentiment around central bank digital currencies, the report said.
• It also highlighted the large energy consumption of proof-of-work mechanisms like bitcoin's, and the importance of incentivizing less resource-intensive blockchain mechanisms such as proof-of-authority.

See also: European Commission, ECB Unite to Consider Potential Pitfalls of the Digital Euro