Cryptocurrency exchange boss Kevin Murcko cautiously welcomes Bank Of England governor Mark Carney’s already-divisive cryptocurrency speech…

Today’s speech from Bank Of England government Mark Carney, on the UK approach to cryptocurrencies, has already been creating ripples.

Carney took a predominantly negative tone towards crypto assets in his address, that we reported here. But his call for regulation is finding favour within the industry, even if his assumptions and assertions are not.

Kevin Murcko, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinMetro, is welcoming of some form of regulation for one. “We have long believed that cryptocurrencies should be held to same standards as traditional fiat currencies, especially when it comes to active trading”, he told CNR.

“The core content of Carney’s speech, which although highly negative and damning, does call for further regulation. This shows us that a legal financial framework for the crypto space is quickly becoming a reality”.

Murcko also believes that strong regulation will be of long-term benefit to crypto asset investors. “For any currency to thrive, it requires liquidity and meaningful movement of tokenized securities. This is something that cryptocurrencies have struggled with due to the unregulated and costly infrastructure that currently supports their issuing, holding and trading. The current volatility that we’ve witnessed across the crypto markets is in large part caused by a lack of regulation and uniformity in how these are traded”.

That said, he and many others were less on board with Carney’s assertions that the likes of Bitcoin provide a poor store of value and exchange. “While cryptocurrencies have been volatile assets in the past, this doesn’t mean that this will always be the case in the future”, he told us.

“He claims that crypto is currently an inefficient medium of exchange, and he’s actually right as things currently stand. But while high fees have made bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies less viable as a means of exchange, improvements are being made to crypto models to overcome this. Networks will get faster, and fees will become lower. It’s only a matter of time”.

“What’s important is that central banks don’t snuff out the crypto industry. Contrary to what some believe, it is only in its infancy, and will only continue to grow”.

The full text of Mark Carney’s speech can be read here.