Irish Central Bank Official Says Crypto's Popularity Is 'Great Concern'

Derville Rowland, director general of financial conduct at the regulator, warned that investors could lose all their money.

By Daniel Palmer

May 31, 2021 at 11:04 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:04 p.m. UTC

GettyImages-537855796 — Central Bank of Ireland, Dublin

Daniel Palmer

A top official at the Central Bank of Ireland has warned investors over the risks of cryptocurrencies.

Derville Rowland, director general of financial conduct at the central bank, told Independent.ie on Monday that the growth in popularity of cryptocurrencies is “of great concern.”
“Crypto assets are quite a speculative, unregulated investment,” she said, adding that the public should be “really aware they could lose the whole of that investment."
The comments come after several central bank governors, including Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England and Haruhiko Kuroda of the Bank of Japan, have made similar warnings.
In March, the central bank moved to put cryptocurrency firms on the same footing as mainstream financial services providers, saying they will have to comply with anti-money laundering rules.
While bitcoin looks to be heading towards the second-worst monthly loss on record, it is still up 25% so far this year.

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