G20 leaders reiterate commitment to regulate crypto assets

At the recently held G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, world leaders have reiterated their commitment to regulate crypto-assets.

The G20 Leaders’ Summit ended on December 01 with a joint declaration on “Building consensus for fair and sustainable development.” The leaders pledged their support to build an open and resilient financial system in compliance with agreed international standards.

“We will continue to monitor and, if necessary, tackle emerging risks and vulnerabilities in the financial system; and, through continued regulatory and supervisory cooperation, address fragmentation. We look forward to continued progress on achieving resilient non-bank financial intermediation,” they said.

In addition, the leaders also announced that they will work towards realizing the potential benefits of technology in the financial industry and regulating crypto assets stating:

“We will step up efforts to ensure that the potential benefits of technology in the financial sector can be realized while risks are mitigated. We will regulate crypto-assets for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism in line with FATF standards and we will consider other responses as needed.”

In addition, the document states that the countries will work together to seek a consensus-based solution to address the impacts of the digitalization of the economy on the international tax system. They plan to provide an update in 2019 and a final report by 2020.

Previously, the G20 meeting of finance ministers held in March 2018 called for a unified regulation of cryptocurrencies and set a July deadline for recommendations. In July, G20 leaders were looking at an October deadline for reviewing a global AML standard on cryptocurrencies, however, it is unclear if the deadline was met, CoinDesk reported.