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Corresponding Author:
Guerino Ardizzi, Directorate General for Currency Circulation and Retail Payments, Bank of Italy, Rome

Coauthors:
Marco Bevilacqua, Directorate General for Financial Supervision and Regulation, Bank of Italy, Rome
Emanuela Cerrato, Directorate General for Markets and Payments Systems, Bank of Italy, Rome
Alberto Di Iorio, Directorate General for Currency Circulation and Retail Payments, Bank of Italy, Rome

Making it through the (Crypto) Winter: Facts, Figures and Policy Issues

Volume 76 - Issue 3 - The Evolving Cryptoecosystem: Implications for the Financial Services Markets, August 2023
(pp. 311-352)
JEL classification: G23; K29; O33
Keywords: Crypto-Asset; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Regulation; Decentralization

Abstract

Crypto-assets have seen strong growth in terms of price in the last years, attracting the interest of retail and institutional investors. More recently, the market has experienced a sharp decline in prices also influenced by idiosyncratic events and tighter global financial conditions. Starting from the main events that unfolded in the crypto-assets market in 2022, this paper seeks to shed light on the challenges regulation faces, the areas it needs to cover, as well as on the drivers of the most recent regulatory developments. In order to do this, we rely on a conceptual framework that attempts to distinguish the different dimensions of the elusive concept of “decentralization”.

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Making it through the (Crypto) Winter: Facts, Figures and Policy Issues

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Institute for International Economics of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce

Institute for International Economics
of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce