Int’l securities body IOSCO prepares crypto regulation report for 2023

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) will launch a consultation for its regulation report on crypto assets already in the current quarter (Q2) of the year. The final recommendations from the Organization are planned to be published by the end of 2023. 

The dates are scheduled in IOSCO’s work program for 2023-24. There are two major workflows dedicated to decentralized assets in IOSCO’s Fintech Task Force plan. The first covers Crypto and Digital Assets (CDA), and the second covers decentralized finance (DeFi). With DeFi, the consultation will start in Q3 of 2023.

According to the work program text, in both areas of the digital market, IOSCO will focus on investors protection:

“Through the outcomes of its work, IOSCO seeks to support the development of sustainable and innovative capital markets, while enhancing investor protection, maintaining market integrity, and reducing systemic risk.”

Previously, in 2022, the Organization has already published its reports on DeFi, stablecoins and influencers. The set of supervisory capacities that IOSCO recommends for national regulators to acquire includes regulatory channels to report consumer complaints for misleading and illegal promotions and evidence-tracking processes to cope with the fast pace and changing nature of online information.

Related: ‘Home’ regulator could solve crypto’s ‘fragmented supervision’ issue: Comptroller

As for DeFi, IOSCO urged national regulators to take “a granular and holistic understanding of the DeFi market,” which could enhance their ability to create laws relevant legislation.

The 2022 report on stablecoins was delivered by IOSCO together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). It it, both bodies define the stablecoin arrangement, which “combines a range of functions to provide an instrument that purports to be used as a means of payment and/or store of value.”

IOSCO is an association of securities and futures regulators. Its board is made up of 35 regulators’ top executives, such as the heads of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and others.