No to a preconceived aversion to digital financial instrumentsi, yes to their adequate regulation, both on the specifically technical side and on that of criminal law enforcement.
This is, in a nutshell, the message that emerged from the study conference "The digitization of financial instruments: opportunities and risks", organized by the Milan branch of the Bank of Italy, directed by Giorgio Gobbi, in collaboration with the National Association for the Study of Credit Problems, chaired by Ercole Pellicanò.
A field of reflections on a topic of particular relevance and complexity, carried out in a double key legal-juridical and economic.
In fact, the National Anti-Mafia and Counter-terrorism Prosecutor, Federico Cafiero de Raho, in his report renewed an appeal launched thirty years ago by Giovanni Falcone regarding the "need for a economic and financial contrast to the mafia, a need that is even more real and urgent today", adding that "the systems that bring the money of the mafias into the economic legal system must be attacked" and that "cryptocurrencies are among the most dangerous, when we talk about anonymous untraceable payments with the possibility of representing a primary path for illicit uses, such as drug trafficking". Therefore, for Cafiero de Raho, great firmness is needed in the application of the "follow the money" principle to block illicit transactions and reach out to suspicious bank accounts that could be seized.
For its part, Piero Cipollone, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, whose Report focused on the technical aspects related to digital currencies, noting that the use of cash decreased by 11% between 2016 and 2019 and that the Covid 19 pandemic has enhanced the growth potential of trade digital, he recalled that "the growth of private technologies with the increase in the use of digital currencies in the hands of private companies and multinationals puts the value of national currencies at risk".
Faced with these transformations - Cipollone underlined - "the Central Bank must provide citizens with a payment system in the digital world that represents what cash is in the physical world". That's why the issue of a digital euro, currently under study at the European Central Bank, “would represent an effective instrument of contrast to the diffusion of cryptocurrencies which are instead private payment schemes”.
The challenging and, in some ways, disturbing scenario that emerged from these two Reports constituted, due to the wealth of suggestions and stimuli provided, the basis for the subsequent discussion, in which representatives of the academic world, the Judiciary and the Authorities took part.
Antonella Sciarrone Alibrandi, Professor of Economic Law at the Catholic University of Milan, it being understood that the European MICAR proposal (Markets in Cripto Activities Regulation) is a significant first step for a complete regulation of crypto activities, it should be emphasized "the need to adequately consider , both the problem of their placement with respect to the regulatory framework in force in terms of financial instruments, and the implications in terms of stability of the system and monetary policy”.
For its part, Donato Masciandaro, Professor of Economics at the Bocconi University of Milan, focusing on the specific aspect of digital public currencies, underlined that "before creating a digital currency it will be necessary to ask ourselves about its economic properties which are at least three, each responding to the need to equip individuals of a tool to best deal with different forms of risk”. In fact, in addition to the risks of illiquidity and devaluation, "the design of digital currencies will have to take into account that there is a third property of currency, that of being a reserve of information, which is associated with the risk of privacy". Ultimately, for Masciandaro "the attractiveness of a digital currency will depend on the ability to offer the three properties in order to comply with the preferences of potential users".
As for Eugenio Fusco, Deputy Attorney at the Public Prosecutor's Office of Milan, the finger must be pointed at the new criminal risks associated with the digitization of finance and currencies, "phenomena of great social alarm that cannot easily be subsumed in the abstract cases envisaged by the legislator, as well as difficult to prosecute, even if easily qualified as a crime". Therefore, these new crime emergencies cannot be faced with the usual investigative schemes, but "for an effective enforcement of digitized crime, it will be necessary to think from a supranational point of view, both on a regulatory level and on that of the investigations to be carried out, focusing on the aspects, both of specialization, and of rethinking rules such as the one on territorial jurisdiction in the criminal trial, since the place where the crime was committed is totally detached from the established naturalistic criteria".
And finally, Tiziana Togna, Deputy Director General of Consob, in recalling examples taken from the legislation of neighboring countries, such as France and Germany, hoped for the introduction also in Italy of legislation capable of strengthening the prevention capacity of the Authorities in terms of financial abuse, in particular in the sector of instruments involving operations on crypto-assets. One side, that of financial abuse, more generally, where – it should be emphasized – Consob has shown itself to be particularly active in recent times.
