The first finance ministers and central bank governors meeting of G20 under India’s presidency is scheduled from February 23 to February 25 in Bengaluru. Sources suggest that cryptocurrencies would also be discussed among various significant issues.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Indian Finance Minister and the meeting host, hinted that the group is exploring if they can collectively regulate cryptocurrencies. As quoted by media channels:
We are talking with all nations, if we can make some standard operating procedure which everyone follows to make a regulatory framework, and if it can be effective.
The Indian finance minister argued that as sophisticated technologies are involved, the G20 is exploring the possibilities of implementing a common regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that all nations could adhere to.
India has been under extensive pressure to implement comprehensive regulation for cryptocurrencies. Along the same line, the Indian government has repeatedly highlighted the need for a global and concerted approach to such regulations.
In particular, crypto regulations have become one of the most-talked topics over the past few weeks. In January, Todayq News reported that at the WEF summit at Davos, the global central banks and regulators called for an urgent rollout of basic regulations targeting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The bankers at the summit opined that the evolving nature of the cryptocurrency sector and the speculative nature of digital assets means that regulators need to step in and enact the necessary laws.
Simultaneously, US regulators have taken a tough stance against some of the services offered by leading companies. Recently, the veteran crypto exchange Kraken was forced to stop staking services for US investors and pay $30 million in a settlement. In another instance, Paxos, the issuer of the third largest stablecoin (BUSD), was forced to stop operations by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also issued a Wells Notice to the exchange regarding the BUSD.
In Europe, the EU approved the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) in October last year; however, the regulation hasn’t come into force due to its exhaustive nature. Notably, both the US and the EU are members of G20. This makes the discussion on crypto regulation at the upcoming meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors even more interesting.