Need to regulate crypto gaining currency: Finance minister

BENGALURU: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said there’s need for greater recognition of risks posed by cryptocurrencies and regulating them, with the IMF and Financial Stability Board tasked with preparing a joint paper by September, in time for the meeting of G20 leaders in Delhi.

The government is keen to evolve a global regulatory architecture as it believes that cryptocurrencies need to be regulated across borders. While IMF has already released a paper, FSB will issue one in July, with a “synthesis paper” planned in September, the FM said.

“There is a clear understanding that anything out of central bank is not a currency and this is a position that India has been taking for a long time,” she said, while listing Canada, the European Central Bank and the World Bank among those who came out in support of the stand taken by India.