What did global regulators recommend for crypto markets?

In November 2023 IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, published 18 policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets. IOSCO brings together the securities regulators of more than 130 countries, including Pakistan's SECP, so its recommendations shape national rules everywhere.

The guiding idea is "same activity, same risk, same regulatory outcome": a crypto firm doing what a broker or exchange does should face the same standards.

The recommendations cover six areas: conflicts of interest when one firm acts as exchange, broker and market maker at once; market manipulation, insider dealing and fraud; keeping customers' assets safe and separate from the firm's own; cooperation between regulators across borders; operational and technology risk; and how firms sell to ordinary investors.

For investors, the practical message is simple. A well-regulated crypto firm should keep your assets apart from its own, tell you clearly what it does with them, avoid trading against you and answer to a regulator. If a platform cannot show this, treat it with caution.