India Finance Minister Calls For Immediate Efforts Towards Crypto Regulation

In what seems like a change of stance, Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India has hinted at an immediate need for concern for issues related to cryptocurrency. This is a shift from the norm of waiting on the sideline to watch how it goes before introducing the necessary policies to the fast-growing industry. Markedly, this urgency for crypto regulation was communicated at a G20 brainstorming session.

During the G20 meeting which had finance ministers and central bank governors of all member states in attendance, Sitharaman tried to create additional awareness of crypto regulation. She urged the member states to ensure that they accrue all necessary benefits connected to the cryptocurrency industry while also trying to protect their economies.

Also, she has asked for a synthesis paper integrating regulations and cryptocurrency macroeconomics. Sitharaman said this while bearing in mind the G20’s outlook toward the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

G20 Plans for Joint Crypto Regulation

In February, the Indian Finance Minister announced that the G20 member states were considering regulating crypto together as a single entity, especially now that the G20 presidency rested on India. This was the same time when she referred to the advanced technology underlying crypto assets, citing it as a reason for the coordinated efforts towards regulating the sector.

While addressing a group of reporters, Sitharaman said “Crypto is heavily tech led and less of human intervention. We are talking to all nations that if regulation has to be framed then one country cannot frame it alone. So we are speaking to all for forming a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) so that it is effective. So all these are part of discussion. The process of discussion is on in G20.”

Again, during the “Investment Opportunities for the long term: India on the Rise” meeting held in the United States, the India Finance Minister reiterated the call for joint effort. Sitharaman did not fail to refer to the several bankruptcies and implosion of crypto exchanges which happened last year. Her call for a unified regulatory framework for crypto assets may be based on a conviction that international operations is the most effective method to regulate the nascent in dustry.