ASIC chair troubled by sheer amount of ‘risk-taking’ crypto investors

cointelegraph.com:

The chief of Australia’s financial services regulator Joe Longo has raised the alarm over the sheer amount of people that invested in “unregulated, volatile” crypto assets during the pandemic. 

Longo, chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) made the comments in an Aug. 11 media release for its research conducted in November 2021, which looked into investment behavior following the onset of t COVID-19 pandemic, stating: 

The survey found that crypto was the second most common investment product, with 44% of those surveyed reporting holding it. Of those investors, 25% indicated that crypto assets were the only investment class they were involved in. 

Longo said the research highlights “the appeal of crypto-assets to the market,” but that investors may not know what risks they are taking on.

He added that considering there are “limited protections” for investors, the lack of understanding among retail investors makes “a strong case for regulating crypto-assets to better protect investors.”

Opposition party Senator Andrew Bragg agreed with Longo that there is a need for more regulation and for lawmakers to act swiftly to protect investors. He told Cointelegraph:

Australian digital assets lawyer Joni Pirovich however told Cointelegraph that there’s been confusion about whether ASIC is properly equipped to oversee token issuers and their tokens. She said:

Pirovich, who is the principal at Blockchain & Digital Assets - Services + Law, noted that in Australia, token issuance and trading creates an interesting conundrum for policymakers because once tokens are issued and then traded on the open market, it becomes a matter for crypto exchanges:

The ASIC chair remarks come while  crypto trading is still not