EBA Chair Says Staffing Is ‘Major Concern’ for Crypto Regulation

There are reportedly “major concerns” among European regulatory officials about the ability to hire specialized staff to help regulate crypto.

Authorities worry about how they will be able to supervise digital asset markets. José Manuel Campa, chair of the European Banking Authority, said that organization also had concerns about planning for new powers, since it won’t know what coins it will supervise until closer to 2025 when the new crypto regulations in Europe will take effect.

Campa has said there are already big problems with retention of talent, especially with technology, crypto and digitization issues, according to a Financial Times (FT) report.

The EBA, based in Paris, was established after the financial crisis to ensure Europe’s banks had sufficient capital for future problems. It is tasked with supervising “significant” tokens used as a means of payment.

Authorities around the world have been challenged to create regulation and regulators that effectively and fairly supervise these emerging digital coins. Banks, FinTechs and consultancies have been trying to position themselves well by hiring cryptocurrency experts to come work for them and ensue their compliance with developing regulation. This is complicated by the issue of inflation, which has added more wage demands and sent employees looking for ways to offset their cost-of-living increases.

As crypto regulation has become more of an issue across various sectors, PYMNTS wrote recently that the SEC has been dialing up its efforts against Coinbase. This has come with charges of insider trading against a former manager and two associates with the company.

The allegations are that the platform allowed US investors to trade digital assets which were actually securities, so they should’ve been registered that way.