The central bank of Great Britain will oppose money laundering

   289

Speaking at the Scottish Economic Conference in Edinburgh on Friday, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, said he believed that the exchanges should follow stricter rules aimed at preventing the illegal use of cryptocurrencies in financial crimes, such as money laundering and terrorism financing.

In addition, the head of the central bank said that he does not believe that the crypto-currencies currently represent significant risks to the existing financial system. However, such risks may increase with the expansion of retail usage of bitcoin, and traditional institutions lag behind in improving their systems.

In other comments, Carney said that he believes that cryptocurrency is "failing" as a type of money. The head of the central bank added that he was not against innovations provided by cryptocurrencies, and has argued that regulation would benefit both the industry and consumers.

The comments come soon after a warning of the country's top financial regulator about the risks of investment in cryptocurrency.

As reported in December, Andrew Bailey, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority, warned domestic investors that assets in cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, are not regulated in the U.K. and, thus, any loss of investment may not be protected.