ECB's Nowotny says central banks considering cryptocurrency regulation

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - European Central Bank governing council member Ewald Nowotny said on Thursday that legislators and central bankers are discussing whether they should intervene to regulate cryptocurrencies as China already has done.

“We’re asking ourselves if legislators or central banks should intervene, as happened in China where they banned (the use of cryptocurrencies) because they consider them fraudulent,” Bank of Austria’s Nowotny said at a conference in Florence.

Chinese authorities in September ordered Beijing-based cryptocurrency exchanges to stop trading in a move aimed at limiting financial risks surrounding the highly speculative market that has grown rapidly this year.