View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of North Carolina School of Law NORTH CAROLINA BANKING INSTITUTE Volume 21 | Issue 1 Article 10 3-1-2017 Virtual Currencies: Growing Regulatory Framework and Challenges in the Emerging Fintech Ecosystem V. Gerard Comizio Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncbi Part of the Banking and Finance Law Commons Recommended Citation V. G. Comizio, Virtual Currencies: Growing Regulatory Framework and Challenges in the Emerging Fintech Ecosystem, 21 N.C. Banking Inst. 131 (2017). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncbi/vol21/iss1/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Banking Institute by an authorized editor of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. VIRTUAL CURRENCIES: GROWING REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND CHALLENGES IN THE EMERGING FINTECH ECOSYSTEM V. GERARD COMIZIO* I. INTRODUCTION In the context of a widely publicized explosion of new technology and innovation designed to disrupt the marketplace of traditional financial institutions in delivering financial services, the number of financial technology (“fintech”) companies in the United States and United Kingdom alone has grown to more than 4,000 in recent years. Further, investment in this sector has grown from $1.8 billion to $24 billion worldwide in just the last five years.1 The financial services industry is experiencing rapid technological changes as it seeks to meet and anticipate business opportunities and needs, consumer demands and expectations, and demographic trends.