LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - A "fire hose" of different regulatory approaches for crypto assets lacks the global consensus needed to attract established investors that would create a more mature market, a conference said on Wednesday.
He European Union has finalized the world's first comprehensive rules for crypto asset markets, known as MiCA, but others as Brittany and the United States is further behind.
Outside of compliance with regulations to stop money laundering and terrorist financing, crypto businesses are largely unregulated in many parts of the world.
"It's really commendable that Europe has been able to do it so quickly," Hester Peirce, commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, told a Financial Times conference.
โIf we build a good regulatory regime, people would come. I think you'll see that with MiCA. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the US,โ Peirce said.
The US Congress needed to decide which regulatory body has authority over cryptocurrencies, Peirce added.
US derivatives watchdog CFTC is also taking a look at the sector as the need for clearer rules becomes more pressing after last year's collapse of FTX crypto exchange.
But in the absence of other legal frameworks, EU rules will inevitably serve as international norms until there is consensus on a global standard, said Eva Gustavsson, director of public affairs at crypto firm Copper.
โWe're drinking from a real fire hose at this time of regulatory proposals, and that's all over the world,โ Gustavsson said.
"I think it would be unrealistic for any company to think that they're not going to need to deliver on anything pretty quickly."
Global standards and the widest possible harmonization are key, said Sarah Pritchard, executive director of supervision at Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.
There will soon be global policy proposals from IOSCO, an umbrella body for securities regulators, Pritchard said.
Gustavsson said that greater regulatory clarity would see more traditional institutional investors enter the crypto market to "mature it further."
Reporting by Huw Jones; Edited by Chizu Nomiyama
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
