Cryptocurrency regulations and cross-border payments are part of the agenda at the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) from February 23 to 35, media reports said. This will be the first FMCBG meeting under India’s presidency of G20.
The event is simultaneously holding the Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting, the second under India’s G20 Presidency. It was inaugurated on Wednesday by Indian Union Minister Anurag Thakur. The FMCBG meeting will take place on February 24-25 and it will be jointly chaired by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das.
At a media briefing, an Indian Finance Ministry official said a seminar on cryptocurrency assets is one of the three such events planned during the 3-day meeting. The discussions will help build consensus for crypto assets, he said, adding that the work on India’s cryptocurrency regulation is underway with the help of various international organizations, a report in The Indian Express said.
India has been pitching for a common approach to cryptocurrency regulation to effectively regulate the sector. Because of the sophisticated technology cryptocurrencies use, it makes it difficult for the law enforcement of a country to monitor and control, the Indian government argued several times in the past.
Within G20, the European Union is ready with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations duly approved in October 2022, but yet to be implemented. The United States doesn’t have a full-fledged regulation but it has been regulating the sector under different banking and finance laws since 2013.
In recent weeks, the US finance sector regulators are increasingly assertive and charging crypto companies under various security laws. China banned crypto trading and mining in 2021.
