The Financial Stability Board, International Monetary Fund and Bank for International Settlements are committed to presenting a foundation for the regulation of private cryptocurrencies, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
“In that world of private issuances, there has to be more regulation,” Georgieva said on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting on Saturday.
Conclusions from the IMF’s board discussion on the issue include:
- “Crypto assets are nothing, they cannot be accepted as a legal tender,” Georgieva said.
- There has to be a very strong push for regulation.
- If regulation fails, or if implementation is slow, then banning those assets shouldn’t be taken off the table because they may create risks to financial stability.
In a statement, India which heads the G-20, said the discussions helped initiate a broader dialog on crypto assets. It also raised “several pertinent policy questions that policymakers and regulators need to evaluate closely.”
“In addition to evaluating the consequences of crypto assets to the broader economy, there is also an existential question on whether crypto assets are indeed the optimal solution for existing challenges in global financial systems,” India said.
India has had a hot and cold relationship with crypto assets. In 2018 the central bank had cut crypto startups from the country’s payment network and last year, announced a new tax regime.
Under that a 1% transactional tax was imposed and which has decimated volumes on crypto exchanges.
— With assistance by Anirban Nag
