Central Bank of Ireland won’t let retail funds hold cryptocurrency

Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor of the Central Bank has warned crypto investors they should be prepared to lose all their investment. Picture: Vivek Prakash/Bloomberg

The central bank is “highly unlikely” to allow investment funds aimed at small-time investors to hold crypto assets and is limiting retail investment funds’ exposure to special purpose acquisition companies.

“There are too many unanswered questions around things like custody, and money laundering, and even just volatility and liquidity” on crypto assets, Patricia Dunne, director of securities and markets supervision, said in an interview. There are “too many questions for direct investment by retail investors.”