Report Italy Contemplates Imposing 54m in Fines for Cryptocurrency Insider Trading
Italy is contemplating raising fines for crypto-related offenses in a bid to curb market manipulation, according to reports. The Italian government is considering stricter penalties for individuals who manipulate the crypto market, as revealed by Reuters, citing a preliminary decree.
The proposed law, if passed, would introduce fines ranging from €5,000 to €5 million ($5,400 to $5.4 million) for activities such as insider trading, unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, and market manipulation. The decree assigns the Bank of Italy and market regulator Consob as the main authorities overseeing crypto operations, with a duty to uphold financial stability and ensure the smooth operation of markets.
In a related development, the Bank of Italy stressed the importance of a robust regulatory framework for stablecoins in early 2023, aiming to prevent a potential crisis involving a destabilizing rush on these digital assets. The financial watchdog emphasized the necessity of regulatory oversight, especially towards stablecoin issuers, given their strong connections to decentralized finance.
Subsequently, Italy’s central bank announced the establishment of a supervisory system in anticipation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the EU’s upcoming regulatory guidelines for the crypto sector. However, it remains uncertain whether this supervisory structure has been fully implemented. At that time, Ignazio Visco, the former governor of the Bank of Italy, revealed that only around 2% of Italian households held “modest amounts, on average” of crypto assets, with the exposure of Italian financial institutions to the crypto market also being minimal.
For more information, Binance has decided not to support privacy tokens in Poland, France, and Italy.
