Jim O’Neill, the former Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, and former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management has stated that he believes there should be a clampdown on cryptocurrencies by UK regulators, rather than allowing the digital currency to garner favour within investment circles, leading to \'daft\' investments.

O’Neill says that anyone considering making a new investment in bitcoin should only do so if there is a drop of around 80% in the current value. He also worries that the ‘bubble’ which is being formed at the moment could have a negative impact on the wider economy if it is allowed to continue to grow.

The worry within traditional financial circles is that cryptocurrencies will develop into a large bubble where a wider portion of the public is encouraged to invest to the detriment of the economy as a whole if the situation worsens. O’Neill doesn’t, however, think that we are anywhere near that currently with bitcoin and other digital currencies.

As bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no place within a single financial or administrative sphere, there is a real worry about the impact on its use should governments and policy-makers around the world place stringent rules in place to restrict the processes and transactions involved.