Sweden’s central bank governor, Stefan Ingves has stated that the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies is raising the stakes for lawmakers, central bankers and regulators around the world.

“When something gets big enough, things like consumer interests and money laundering come into play. So there’s good reason to believe that [regulation] will happen,” said the Riksbank governor.

Elsewhere, in the U.S., Federal Reserve Vice Chairman of Supervision Randal Quarles raised his concerns that the current regulatory provisions for cryptocurrencies are insufficient, signalling the Fed is looking at the best way to confront the issue, reports Cointelegraph.

Quarles’ concerns came during a week of extreme volatility within crypto markets, with Bitcoin temporarily losing $15,000 in value.

In addition, the EU has vowed to “put in place a comprehensive framework enabling the uptake of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto-assets in the financial sector” by 2024.

In Sweden, the minister for financial markets, Åsa Lindhagen stated that the government is already involved in reinforcing regulatory standards for cryptocurrency exchanges. She added that several crypto regulatory approaches are still a “work in progress at the international level.” 

Sweden’s central bank governor went on to say that crypto regulations “will probably come at different times in different areas.”

Riksbank is already progressing well with the development of a central bank digital currency, the e-krona, the Cointelegraph report adds.

In a statement last week, the central bank said: “The e-krona pilot is therefore moving on from only having simulated participants, to cooperation with external participants in the test environment.” 

The experiment will involve participation between the central bank and Handelsbanken, a Swedish retail bank chain.

Earlier this month, deVere CEO and founder Nigel Green said about global crypto regulation: “Proportionate regulation should be championed. It would help protect investors, shore-up the market, tackle criminality, and reduce the potential possibility of disrupting global financial stability, as well as offering a potential long-term economic boost to those countries that introduce it.”