The leaders of the 20 largest world economies, famously known as the Group of 20 nations (G20) have agreed to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital currencies and digital IDs across their territories during the recent New Delhi Summit.
The G20, currently under India’s presidency, adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in the Asian nation’s capital. However, this decision naturally incited major anxieties given its potential as a mechanism through which governments can keep tabs on their citizens’ spending habits and stifle opposition. According to the group, discussions are already underway to create international regulations for cryptocurrencies. However, many are alarmed by the potential grooming of said digital money through government-aided regulation, which could subsequently lead to the replacement of these decentralized digital currencies with state-controlled Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) that could override privacy and security attributes.
In the summit, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pushed for the necessity of a global construct to effectively map crypto assets regulation. She said: “India’s presidency of G20 has put on the table key issues related to regulating or understanding that there should be a framework for handling issues related to crypto assets.” In fact, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) have submitted synthesis paper on crypto assets.
“Crypto is a threat as well as an opportunity. But crypto is also an example to say how unless global cooperation works out well, you are not going to be able to have a responsible financial ecosystem which can regulate it as well,” Sitharaman pointed out. However, critics are still skeptical of the idea of extensive monitoring of cryptocurrency and argue that this might grant governments the master keys to manipulate social credit scores and control the monetary spending of citizens.
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