Cryptocurrency prices fell on Monday after the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) called for global coordination of efforts to regulate Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Given the international appeal of cryptocurrencies, the OECD has called for a clear stance from regulators around the world regarding the requirements for ICOs as the cornerstone of using ICOs for fundraising purposes.

The OECD statement emphasized that conducting an ICO has very high risks and therefore all countries in the world need to adopt a standardized set of requirements for conducting an ICO that would prevent money laundering and other illegal activities.

Judging by the Investing.com index, by 15:19 Moscow time the Bitcoin rate fell by 1,22% to $3,550.6.

Overall, cryptocurrencies fell in price: at the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was $119.7 billion, compared to the $122 billion value recorded on Friday.

The OECD statement said: “A delicate balance must be struck between the development of technology and the application of regulatory requirements of supervisory authorities in a way that does not compromise the ICO mechanism in terms of speed and low cost advantages, especially noticeable when raising funding for small companies.”

Calls for regulation of ICOs have been ongoing for a long time, although international organizations have not yet made significant progress in developing international standards for the use of digital assets.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to seek a method to implement requirements for the entire cryptocurrency sector, but until now has primarily relied on cease-and-desist orders and fines that are imposed on a case-by-case basis. Regulatory action has intensified since the SEC opened investigations into 18 cryptocurrency cases last year, up from five in 2017.

In early January, the European Banking Agency (EBA) and the European Securities and Financial Markets Authority (ESMA) called for regulation of the cryptocurrency market and the creation of level playing fields.

The Ethereum rate fell 1.66% to $117.25, Litecoin fell 1.47% to $31.048, and the XRP rate fell 0.21% to $0.3199.

The cryptocurrency sector has come under fire from a senior adviser at the Bank of England, who has expressed huge doubts that cryptocurrencies can replace fiat currencies issued by central banks.

“I’m not afraid of cryptocurrencies. They do not perform the basic functions of financial instruments. They are neither a convenient means of payment nor a store of value, and their growth rate has slowed”, Hugh van Steenis told Bloomberg TV.