G20 Finance Chiefs Agree Global Policy Responses to Crypto Are Required

The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors have agreed that crypto regulation cannot be confined to one part of the world, said India’s finance minister. “Any action on crypto assets will have to be global,” she stressed, adding that the G20 finance chiefs’ discussion on crypto was “very substantive.”

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the G20’s discussion on crypto regulation Thursday during a press briefing that followed the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting, held on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das co-chaired the meeting, during which the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors discussed matters pertaining to the oversight of cryptocurrencies, along with their related challenges.

The Indian finance minister said:

The discussion on crypto assets highlighted that it couldn’t be confined to one part of the world. Its implications can impact both emerging & developed economies. Thus, global policy responses to crypto-assets are required.

“I am glad to say that there is a greater acceptance among all G20 members that any action on crypto assets will have to be global,” Sitharaman reiterated, adding that “the G20, I think, has responded fairly with alacrity” on the challenges posed by crypto assets.

Responding to a question at the press briefing, the Indian finance minister further shared: “The G20 and its members agree that it’s not going to be possible to have an independent standalone country dealing with the crypto assets and that it has to have a globally coordinated understanding on how to go about regulating crypto assets.”

Referring to the work on a joint “synthesis paper” on crypto by the IMF and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Indian finance minister said:

The way in which we are seeing this pan out during our presidency is the IMF’s paper is being discussed. FSB’s paper also will be taken up, and a synthesis paper will be prepared from the IMF paper and the FSB paper both put together.

Sitharaman explained that a discussion will take place in September and October and at the “end of the day, we will see a roadmap being readied on how and what kind of understanding the members of the G20 have in this, and it can be taken further forward on specific actions of regulation as and when the G20 takes a call on it.”

The Indian finance chief also noted that crypto assets can potentially cause macroeconomic instability, stating:

Today, we are in the position to see how countries are now recognizing that it is not just a crypto asset regulatory issue, where countries will have to come together, but … There can be issues of macroeconomic stability itself.

In conclusion, Sitharaman said the crypto discussion among the G20 members was “very substantive,” adding that all of the G20 finance chiefs came to an agreement that crypto oversight “has got to be globally handled.”

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