Regulators and policymakers around the world still haven’t come close to getting their heads around cryptocurrencies, but they are trying.

The G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, which met in Buenos Aires in March, acknowledged their growing importance in the world economy, calling on “international standard-setting bodies to continue their monitoring of crypto-assets and their risks, according to their mandates, and assess multilateral responses as needed”.

The G20 communique acknowledged that “technological innovation, including that underlying crypto-assets, has the potential to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of the financial system and the economy more broadly”.

However, it warned of the increased risks around consumer and investor protection, market integrity, tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing.