Bangalore:
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman underlined that global consensus is needed for cryptocurrency regulation before India does anything about it, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday that a global template may need to be be made, and that everyone will have to work together on it, otherwise regulation will not be effective.
However, the minister said it’s not about mastering “distributed ledger technology,” which has its goodness and potential.
“The G20 which India currently holds the presidency, it was India’s proposal and it has been adopted. I am glad that the G20 has kept it on the agenda for this year, the IMF has issued a paper on crypto currency and the way where it can affect macroeconomic stability. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which was established by the G20, has agreed to release a report that will also focus on financial stability,” Ms Sitharaman said.
“Their (FSB) report and the IMF report will be discussed in July when finance ministers and central bank governors will meet in the framework of the G20, posting that there will be a summit of prime ministers and presidents of G20 countries that will be held in India,” she said.
The minister was responding to a question about regulating digital or cryptocurrency while interacting with ‘Thinkers Forum, Karnataka’ in Bengaluru.
The first meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) under the Indian Presidency of the G20 was held in Bengaluru from 24 to 25 February.
“The underlying principle is, because the digital currencies are fully digitized and technology-driven, the technology that is highly distributed, and sometimes identity is very difficult to establish, but that has potential, therefore it should only be acted upon with all countries participating ‘ said Mrs Sitharaman.
“No country individually, in a matter of being technology driven, a crypto asset, can control it effectively, because technology has no boundaries, it can just pass through. So the very nature of being technology driven requires all countries to be on board otherwise it won’t be effective,” she said.
Further, noting that the G20, along with the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and other organizations such as the IMF, World Bank and so on, has agreed that a global template may need to be created, the minister said: “We will all have to work together, otherwise regulating crypto may not be effective.” “But that doesn’t mean we master the technology of distributed ledger technology. It has its goodness, potential and strengths of its own. We take that into account,” she added. Ms Sitharaman stressed that India is under observation by the global community today for how it is working its way through the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and its spillover effects, Ms Sitharaman said. Inflation in India today is largely “imported” because of the price of fuel and fertilizer.
“So you bring it all in, while your own cause for inflation may be the supply side – we are aware of inflation in India and every government is fighting it. But today the pressure on inflation in India is largely due to the imported increases in prices,” she said, adding that amidst all this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made sure that the people of India will not suffer.