"The bubble has already begun to collapse, and maybe we should just see how far this collapse goes, and what is left when we've reached a new kind of equilibrium," Mr Hansson told a conference in Riga. "I think we will come back a few years from now and say, 'How could we ever have gotten into this situation, where we believed this kind of fairytale story?'"

Nonetheless, the governor warned that authorities may need to focus on investor protection aspects "if grandmothers start investing in that," and highlighted concerns that cryptocurrencies can be used for illegal activities. Financial stability issues may arise if links between virtual assets and the regulated financial sector begin to increase, he added.

While Mr Hansson has previously voiced similar views, the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA), Estonia's financial watchdog, recently warned that it considers companies providing services linked to crypto-assets to be a new source of money laundering risks.

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