BENGALURU (Reuters) – The Group of 20 (G20) countries are striving to build a policy consensus on crypto assets to inform better global regulation, India’s federal economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth said on Wednesday.
India, which currently holds the G20 presidency, is hosting the group’s first meeting of finance and central bank deputies on Dec. 13-15 in Bengaluru.
The implications of crypto assets for the economy, monetary policy and the banking sector should be studied to inform this consensus, Seth said at a news conference on the second day of the forum.
“The regulation should flow from the policy view taken. In fact, one of the priorities which have been put on the table is to help countries build a consensus for policy approach to the crypto assets,” he said.
G20 agenda
The discussions come after the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has led to calls for better oversight of crypto markets.
FTX, its hedge fund Alameda Research and dozens of affiliates filed for US bankruptcy last month after the trading platform suffered a rush of withdrawals and a rescue deal failed.
Talks in Bengaluru have also covered managing global debt vulnerabilities, financing for climate action and sustainable development goals, strengthening multilateral development banks, among others.
India, the world’s third largest economy and second-most populous nation, assumed the G20 presidency for the first time earlier this month, taking over from Indonesia.
The grouping comprises 19 countries and the European Union, and represents in total around 85% of the world’s GDP.
Self-regulation “will not work”
Separately, Germany’s top regulator called for global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to protect consumers, prevent money laundering and preserve financial stability.
Mark Branson, the president of Germany’s financial market regulator BaFin, said a hands-off approach that would “just let the industry grow as a playground for grownups” was the wrong tactic.
“We’ve seen the self-regulated world. It will not work,” Branson told journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening.
(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya, Tom Sims and Frank Siebelt; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Potter)
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