FM Sitharaman Calls for Global Crypto Regulations in Washington DC

Earlier this week, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called for global crypto regulation. She addressed the topic at the International Monetary Forum (IMF) in Washington DC.

During her official visit to the US, she had bilateral talks with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMF-WB) spring meeting.

Sitharman said:

I think the biggest risk for all countries across the board will be the money laundering aspect and also the aspect of currency being used for financing terror.

Notably, the Finance Minister expressed India’s concerns about potentially dangerous uses of cryptocurrency. For instance, money laundering and terror funding.

However, she said that regulation based on technology is the only way to deal with cryptocurrencies and added that it must be “so adept” that is “not behind the curve, but on top of it.”

Sitharaman added that regardless of the nature of the crypto assets, either Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or private assets, she is more concerned about the ‘unhosted wallets.’ Especially in the private domain through which money is being moved around across borders.

Sitharaman stated:

Regulating cannot be done by a single country within its terrain through some effective method, and for doing it across borders, technology does not have a solution which will be acceptable to various sovereigns and, at the same time, is applicable within each of the territories.

She noted that any crypto regulations developed will have to take into account the diverse ways in which crypto assets are used in different countries.

Sitharaman described, “The risks involved will have to be differentially approached because, for each use case, the risks can also be different depending on the economy you are talking about.”