G20’s joint statement, which was expected to include detailed guidelines on cryptocurrency, included only 3 paragraphs that showed G20’s stance on cryptocurrency and it has left relevant industries baffled.
G20 announced through its joint statement, which was announced after G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting, that crypto-assets cannot be seen as sovereign currencies and that there are side effects to crypto-assets such as money laundering and tax evasion. Its joint statement only stated that countries should manage crypto-assets on their own.
“However, crypto-assets and innovative technologies can bring significant benefits to financial system and overall economy.” said G20 through its joint statement.
“Crypto-assets can cause problems such as consumer and investor protection, market integration, tax evasion, money laundering, and financing of terrorism.” said G20. “Although crypto-assets are not causing threats to stability of global finance, we are still being very careful dealing with crypto-assets.”
G20 also urged efforts from Financial Stability Board (FSB) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to regulate crypto-assets. It requested them to be clear on how FATF standards will be applied to cryptocurrency.
When this joint statement came out, blockchain industry showed disappointment.
Back in March, G20 marked cryptocurrency as crypto-asset and it has practically classified cryptocurrency as an asset. As a follow-up work, it discussed about having each country establish its own regulations for assets until July and including relevant information to its joint statement.
To deal with money laundering and financing of terrorism problems, G20 also discussed about applying FATA standards to crypto-assets. However, it ultimately announced its ambiguous stance on cryptocurrency and did not state about detailed guidelines.
“G20’s joint statement only includes information that it had talked about in the past.” said a representative for a financial authority. “It seems that its joint statement does not mention much except for asking each country to manage its own situation.”
Staff Reporter Gil, Jaeshik | osolgil@etnews.com & Staff Reporter Ryu, Geunil | ryuryu@etnews.com