G7 participants support the need for crypto regulation

One of the main subjects that concern crypto users is digital assets (or cryptocurrency) regulation. The digital asset has been in much of the attention in 2020 by the federal government and regulators around the world. In a recent G7 meeting, the Finance Ministries and Central Banks strongly support the need to regulate digital currencies (or crypto).

In addition to discussing about the actions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies to recovery the global economy, they also discussed “ongoing responses to the evolving landscape of crypto assets and other digital assets and national authorities’ work to prevent their use for malign purposes and illicit activities”.

The meeting was hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin with participation from Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, and the Eurogroup. The heads of the IMF, World Bank, and Financial Stability Board also joined the discussion.

Following the meeting, Reuters reported Germany’s finance minister- Schilz concern over Facebook’s Libra project. In a statement after a video conference of G7 finance ministers, Scholz said that relaunching Libra under its new name of Diem was only a cosmetic change. “A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf,” he said.

Bottom line:

The popularity of cryptocurrencies rises daily because it’s the best way for people in one country to do business with people in another. Specifically, it’s a great way to conduct financial transactions while the government and other financial institutions can’t interfere. This has not been sitting well with the authorities and they are doing everything possible to make sure the currency monopoly remains in the hands of central banks and governments.

There were also rumors that to succumb to the crypto surge, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin is planning to enforce regulation that would forbid users from utilizing personal (or private) crypto wallets outside of regulated crypto exchanges.