Finance Minister seeks global effort on crypto regulation

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that regulation of crypto assets will be one of the eight priorities of the upcoming G20. She said that even though RBI has launched cryptocurrency, a pool of crypto assets lies outside in the global market which are created and traded which should be examined in the national interest through regulation.

Image credit: PIB

New Delhi, Nov 2: With e-Rupi making its debut in India’s government securities secondary market, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday voiced support for a global effort to regularize crypto assets. Addressing the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), she said that regulation of crypto assets will be one of the eight priorities of the upcoming G20.

The minister, however, made it clear that the details and trajectory of the eight priorities are yet to be mapped out. India will be taking the presidency of the G20 for the year 2022-23. At the conference, Sitharaman said that cryptocurrency would be one of the unfinalised “priorities”. Echoing the need for a collective effort for the cybercash, she said, “I know work has been done by FSB, OECD, IMF, and also the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). So we will have to bring all of them together and then put it on the table for the members to have a meaningful conversation on it”.

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, had earlier expressed concerns about crypto regulation and volatile nature of the digital currency. But it launched a concept note on the digital rupee, a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Under the said concept, the RBI has proposed to issue two forms of CBDC—wholesale for interbank settlement and retail. India’s tryst with digital currency has set a quality benchmark for the global market on the execution and acceptance of digital payment options through NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, digital wallets, etc.

“Today as we talk, the Reserve Bank has started a pilot digital currency. So, whether it is your identity, whether it is your financial inclusion, or transfer of certain entitlement to the beneficiaries, there is an evolution which is happening because people have adapted it so easily like fish to water,” Sitharaman expressed confidence over India’s digital revolution. She said that even though RBI has launched cryptocurrency, a pool of crypto assets lies outside in the global market which are created and traded which should be examined in the national interest through regulation.