Further to the regulatory activity
done by all relevant parties in their areas of responsibility and authority
regarding virtual assets, and in view of the development of the industry in
Israel that is examining the various uses and applications based, inter alia,
on distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the financial system, the regulators
of the Israeli financial system believe that there is room to renew and
strengthen cooperation and coordination among all regulators and the public.
The team would like to monitor
developments in this area in Israel and abroad, and to examine the issues
concerning the application of regulation to the various uses of the technology
and their implications for economic activity, the financial markets and
financial stability. The team will gather data and information for the purpose
of creating a knowledge base on the issue for regulators and the public, and in
order to formulate recommendations regarding the desired regulatory policy.
The team’s members, which include
representatives from the Capital Market Authority, the Israel Securities
Authority, the Ministry of Finance, the National Economic Council, the Israel
Tax Authority, the Ministry of Justice, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror
Financing Prohibition Authority, the National Cyber Bureau, and the Bank of
Israel, are asking for the public’s response to the following question:
What issues should be discussed in
examining the regulation of the use of virtual assets and what are the possible
measures relating to those issues? In
particular:
1. What are the main barriers,
regulatory or otherwise, with which Israeli parties at interest dealing with
virtual assets must deal if they wish to operate in Israel and offer their
product to the domestic consumer? If the
company has previous experience operating in Israel, we would like to know what
specific barriers it has encountered.
2. What are the main barriers,
regulatory or otherwise, with which Israeli parties at interest operating in the
context of investing and fundraising in the area of virtual assets must deal if they
wish to operate in Israel? If the
company has previous experience raising funds in Israel, we would like to know
what specific barriers it has encountered.
3. What are the main barriers,
regulatory or otherwise, with which the consumers of virtual-asset-based
applications in Israel must deal?
4. What are the risks inherent
in the use of virtual assets and in activity using virtual assets?
5. What is the relevant
information that regulators must gather in order to monitor developments in the
industry?
6. What are the opportunities
inherent in this technology for the financial sector?
7. How can this technology
help in dealing with AML/CFT (Anti Money Laundering and Combatting the
Financing of Terrorism) challenges?
Those interested in submitting
their positions should send a summary document by electronic mail to Elazar.maor@boi.org.il. The document should be no longer than 10
pages. Responses will be received until
December 31, 2018.
The Committee is permitted to
respond to all or some of the responses received, or not to respond at all.
It is clarified that the Committee
shall be permitted to present the data and to use the content of the position
papers and their appendices for the purpose of formulating its final
recommendations, and to publish them, including on the government’s websites,
unless the response includes an explicit written request to limit the
disclosure or use of the information contained.