U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters after the G20 meeting in India on Saturday that while the U.S. has not indicated any outright bans, it is critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry.
See related article: IMF releases crypto action plan, advises against legal tender status
Fast facts
- Yellen’s remarks came as India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India and many G20 members have acknowledged that “anything outside of the central bank is not a currency”, after meetings with member nations.
- Sitharaman’s comments echo the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) nine-point action plan published on Thursday on how countries should approach crypto assets.
- “Several speakers have been speaking about risks of crypto assets and there’s a clarity that unless it is from a sovereign bank, it can’t be a currency and it has to be regulated. However, the technology which governs all these is very useful for fintech,” Sitharaman said.
- At the same meeting in India, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters that banning crypto should be on the table.
- India is looking forward to the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) recommendations on the crypto-asset markets and activities, expected by July 2023, it said in the G20 chair’s summary and outcome document.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the FSB’s joint synthesis paper integrating the macroeconomic and regulatory perspectives of crypto assets is expected in September 2023.
- India is expected to hold over 200 meetings across the country as president of the G20 from Dec. 1, 2022 to Nov. 30, 2023. The first G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors was held in Bengaluru in India on February 24-25.
- See related article: Ban crypto or brace for the next financial crisis, RBI governor warns