• India’s Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, believes that cryptocurrencies will take the central stage at the upcoming G20 presidency event.
• She wants to build a common framework for all countries to deal with this matter due to recent crypto collapses and shocks.
• India had previously announced that traditional financial institutions would not be allowed to do any work or business with crypto firms.
India’s Crypto Future
Nirmala Sitharaman – India’s Minister of Finance – recently visited Washington and expressed her thoughts on cryptocurrency in India. She believes it will take up most of the focus during this year’s G20 presidency event, as she seeks to develop a common global framework for all countries to deal with digital currencies.
What Happened in 2018?
A few months ago, Shaktikanta Das – the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – said he doesn’t think crypto assets have any place in India and he would prefer to do away with them altogether. This was shortly after India had announced that traditional financial institutions were no longer allowed to provide tools or services to blockchain and crypto-based enterprises back in 2018.
G20 Presidency Event
At the roundtable discussion in Washington, Sitharaman discussed opportunities for cryptocurrency-related businesses. She also mentioned free trade agreements between various countries like Australia, UAE, Mauritius and ASEAN which are being signed at a much faster rate now than ever before.
Cryptocurrency Regulation
Governments and regulators around the world are taking action towards cryptocurrency regulation after FTX suddenly collapsed last year without warning; they are concerned about investor funds and don’t want another situation like Sam Bankman-Fried’s mismanagement happening again. Consequently, there is pressure on international leaders at events such as G20 meetings this year regarding how best to handle digital currency matters across each nation involved.
India’s Stance on Crypto
India has long had an uncertain relationship with cryptocurrencies; however their stance appears to be slowly changing when compared against Das‘ comments from earlier this year who called for an outright ban on digital currencies within his country’s borders – regardless of their size or importance – while still supporting blockchain technology overall.