FM seeks crypto regulation at global level

Washington: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday made a strong case for regulating cryprocurrencies at a global level to mitigate the risk of money laundering and terror funding.

Participating at a high-level panel discussion organised by the IMF, the Finance Minister said that as long as the non-governmental activity of the crypto assets was through unhosted wallets, the regulation was going to be very difficult. However, she said, cross border payments between countries will become very effective through Central Bank-driven digital currencies. "The risk, which worries me more on the non-governmental domain is essentially you're looking at unhosted wallets across the borders, across the globe.

So, regulation cannot be done by a single country within its terrain through some effective method and for doing it across the borders, technology doesn't have a solution which will be acceptable to various sovereigns at the same time applicable within each of the territory," she said. The risks involved will have to be differentially approached, because for each user case, the risks can also be different, depending on the economy, she said during a panel discussion on the topic 'Money at a Crossroad: Public or Private Digital Money?' Citing an example, Sitharaman said application of regulation and risk involved for Nigeria would be different from a tourism or investment rich Bahamas.

The risk, which worries me more on the non-governmental domain is essentially you're looking at unhosted wallets across the borders, across the globe. So, regulation cannot be done by a single country within its terrain

—Nirmala Sitharaman