Regulating Crypto-Assets: Investor Protection Strategies and the 5-I’s Model

Crypto-assets are often marketed with high expected returns but as a detriment, very high price volatility comes in the same package. It is hard to imagine more controversial investment objectives than crypto-assets – their status varies worldwide from legal currency to totally prohibited illegality. Crypto-assets have been an almost unregulated field in the EU. However, the Crypto Wild West days are soon to be over, as the new EU regulation is finally coming. The growing consumer demand for crypto-assets forces to strengthen investor protection. In this paper, investor protection strategies of the crypto-asset market are systematised with the 5-I’s Model developed by the author. The model examines crypto-assets from the perspective of investor, investment, information, intermediary and issuer – parts that constitute the five ‘Is’ in the model. 5-I’s model, crypto-assets, EU regulation, MiCA, DLT, blockchain, investor protection, FinTech, regulatory sandbox, decentralised finance