The European Banking Federation believes that a comprehensive regulatory framework for bitcoin trade should be developed to prevent money laundering.

The EBF, which represents 32 national banking associations and 4,500 banks, has released its plan for a digital revamp of the banking system. The document addresses both bitcoin and blockchain, calling the latter a technology which “provides number of interesting opportunities both for financial institutions individually and for the collective ecosystem”.

Recognising the blockchain’s capability to reduce costs, secure consumer spending and introduce greater liquidity to the market, the EBF recommends regulating cryptotransactions to the same extent as the traditional ones. It also highlights the fact that the technologies implementing such control are yet to be developed.

The EBF expressed no strict position on bitcoin, saying that the future of the cryptocurrency was still unclear.

Earlier this year, the EBF released a report covering both the advantages and the disadvantages of the virtual currency, its main message being that the currencies like bitcoin (whether they were considered good or bad) were yet to be powerful enough to challenge the traditional banking system.


Maria Rudina