G20 Summit: Cryptocurrency Regulations Get A July Deadline

The G20 Summit of March 2018 has come up with July as the deadline for the cryptocurrency regulations. The member nations have unified on examining the cryptocurrencies to gather data before proposing regulations. Meanwhile, the G20 nations will be following the FATF standards for money laundering.

A consolidated cryptocurrency regulation decision

The two day G20 Summit of March in Buenos Aires, Argentina is coming to an end and the world’s economic leaders have set the deadline for a unified cryptocurrency regulation that is July this year.

After the G20 meeting of central bank governors and finance ministers, the chair of the Argentina Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger said that the present member nations have agreed on the need of cryptocurrencies to be inspected. Additionally, regulations can’t be proposed until more information is gathered about digital currencies.

This certainly means that a crackdown is definitely out of the picture, though these world leaders are more inclined towards defining cryptocurrencies as assets instead of currency.

During the press conference, Sturzenegger stated that all the members recommended July as a firm deadline, further explaining that:

“In July we have to offer very concrete, very specific recommendations on, not ‘what do we regulate?’ but ‘what is the data we need?'”

Also, read: G20 Summit in Action: The Debate Over “Bitcoin- Asset Vs Currency” is ON

The difference in opinions & applying FATF standards

The majority of the G20 member nations are the supporters of this plan but not everyone is on board. The president of Brazil Central Bank, Ilan Goldfajn said that Brazil won’t be following the regulations outlined in the G20 meeting regarding cryptocurrencies among other issues.

While Brazil talks about taking a different route, G20 pledges to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards to cryptocurrencies. FATF is basically an intergovernmental body that makes rules and regulations to fight terrorist financing and money laundering globally.

G20’s statement reads:

“We commit to implement the FATF standards as they apply to crypto-assets, look forward to the FATF review of those standards, and call on the FATF to advance global implementation. We call on international standard-setting bodies (SSBs) to continue their monitoring of crypto-assets and their risks, according to their mandates, and assess multilateral responses as needed.”

On the way to global cryptocurrency regulations

Over the past few months, Japan, France, Germany and the US have taken a step towards crypto regulations, potential usage in illegal activities and risks to the investors; and have asked for its closer inspection that in part stimulated the crypto talks in G20 meeting.

Amidst all this, Mark Carney, the head of Bank of England and the chief of the Financial Stability Board of G20 stated that “crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability at this time”, further citing that cryptos are less than 1 percent of the global GDP.

Though several officials have called for a set of regulations that every country could enforce, there is lack of clarity on how far the nations have reached on a probable regulation discussion.

What are your views on the G20 summit cryptocurrency regulations? What do you think will be the probable approach of these G20 nations? Share your thoughts with us!