Finally, I would like to welcome the members of the Forum and its observers, and thank them in advance for committing to and participating in this exciting and important project. 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice  4
Investor protection or market integrity: As most of these crypto-assets are traded in unregulated platforms, usually via the internet, there are significant gaps in data collection and investor protection. Crypto-asset markets are therefore prone to (c) market manipulation, such as spoofing or flooding the market with fake orders to trick others into buying or selling. Moreover, the security or integrity of some of the trading platforms is also in doubt given the number of cyber incidents that have led to significant losses of the investors. 7. Having said all the above, I wish to conclude by making the following points: Crypto-assets are not money or currencies. So people wishing to invest or speculate (a) in crypto-assets should do so without harbouring the unrealistic expectation that they would one day become money or currencies that can be used as a means of exchange. Central banks must take extra care in making sure that the issuance of fiat (b) currencies is managed prudently in order not to diminish the purchasing power of the currencies or people’s confidence in them. Overseers of payment systems must take proactive steps to ensure that large value as well as small value retail payment systems, making use of commercial bank or central bank balances, are efficient, convenient and at low cost to the users. This is increasingly important as the public now expects and demands a faster and cheaper means of electronic payment or digital cash, as some would call it, for their day to (c) day transactions.