IMF Calls For ‘More’ Crypto Regulation – Says Ban Should Be An Option – Regulation Bitcoin News

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says crypto needs “more regulation.” She added, “We shouldn’t take banning these assets off the table,” if regulation fails or is too slow to implement.

IMF chief calls for more crypto regulation

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva spoke about crypto regulation Saturday on the sidelines of G20 meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors under India’s presidency in Bengaluru. Commenting on crypto oversight, she told reporters:

There must be more regulation.

Her statement followed a roundtable she co-chaired with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The IMF chief and India’s finance minister agreed that alongside debt restructuring, regulation of cryptocurrencies is a priority area for India.

Georgieva explained that the IMF, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are committed to establishing a basis for the regulation of cryptocurrencies that are not issued by governments or central banks. “We need to distinguish between central banks’ digital currencies [CBDCs] which are backed by the government and stablecoins, and cryptoassets which are privately issued,” she stressed.

“There has to be a very strong push for regulation,” the IMF chief stressed, noting:

If regulation fails, if you are slow to do it, we should not take off the table to ban these assets, because they can create financial stability risks.

The IMF’s executive board issued guidance this week to help countries develop effective crypto policies. While most board members agreed that “strict bans are not the first best option, but that targeted restrictions may apply”, a few felt that “outright bans should not be ruled out.”

In addition, the board advised: “Crypto-assets should not be given the status of official currency or legal tender to ensure monetary sovereignty and stability.” Georgieva said similarly on Saturday:

Crypto-assets are nothing, they cannot be accepted as legal tender.

The fund has opposed El Salvador accepting bitcoin as legal tender since the country made the crypto a national currency back in September 2021. However, the IMF said earlier this month that so far El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as legal tender is at risk. not realized.

What do you think of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s statements on crypto? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.