Finance ministers of G20 nations have adopted a synthesis paper released by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), containing various suggestions for cryptocurrency regulation. This adoption is seen by some as a significant step toward establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, while others consider it a work in progress.
Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder and CEO of CoinSwitch, describes the G20 roadmap on crypto-assets as a detailed and action-oriented plan that will facilitate global policy coordination and the development of mitigating strategies and regulations for crypto assets. Kiran Mysore Vivekananda, Chief Public Policy Officer at CoinDCX, views this initiative as groundbreaking, especially in the realm of emerging technologies, setting a precedent for discussions on emerging technologies worldwide.
The timeline of cryptocurrency regulation follows:
February 1, 2018: Then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget Speech, declared that the government did not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender or coin and aimed to eliminate their use in financing illicit activities. However, he expressed support for blockchain technology.
April 5, 2018: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notification restricting banks from facilitating funds transfer for the purchase of digital currencies. This notification was later challenged in the Supreme Court.
March 2020: Two years later, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court invalidated the RBI’s notification that had prohibited banks from engaging with cryptocurrencies.
This timeline reflects the regulatory evolution of digital currencies in their ongoing journey to establish themselves as a legally accepted asset class with well-defined regulations.
