One of the most highly discussed technology topics in the last few months has been the emergence of cryptocoins. This makes sense considering that the volume of economic transactions carried out using cryptocurrency has not stopped growing since the first virtual currency, bitcoin, appeared in 2009. It is, therefore, a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. With the aim of providing all interested parties with as much information as possible on digital currencies, Banco Sabadell organised the ‘Crypocurrency: Hero or villain?’ webinar. During the workshop, the characteristics of these instruments were analysed in detail, as well as the possible risks faced by those who decide to incorporate them into their operations as a means of payment or as an investment vehicle.

There are currently over 14,000 virtual coins or cryptocoins. All of them have a set of shared characteristics that we should keep in mind and which we mention below:

  • It is a vehicle that facilitates payments between individuals but has no “central entity” behind it that is held responsible for them.
  • At present, there is still no legislation to regulate them (expected in 2024), nor is there any clear regulation on how they are to be taxed.
  • In fact, any cryptocurrency could disappear completely at any time, without anyone having right to hold anyone liable.
  • If a cryptocurrency user loses the password needed to access them, as there is no entity that manages them, there is no way of recovering that password, which means that access to them and the investment is lost.
  • As it is a financial asset that, as mentioned above, is not yet regulated from a legal or fiscal point of view, it is a particularly dangerous field of activity in which there are many fraudsters, among others, who try to seduce potentially interested investors with promises of high returns.

On the other hand, it is clear that cryptocurrencies have a number of attributes that can make them attractive to certain people for very specific transactions. One of these is the relative ease with which anyone can enter this world and begin to operate in it.