New Delhi:Moving forward on the need for a policy framework on cryptos, India has proposed a joint technical paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) covering macroeconomic and regulatory perspectives around the rapidly growing digital asset.
“This would help in the formulation of a coordinated and comprehensive policy approach to crypto assets. The international organisations are expected to present their joint paper during the 4th Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in October 2023,” an official statement said following a panel discussion on “Policy Perspective: Debating the road to policy consensus on crypto assets” under G20 India Presidency.
The statement from Finance Ministry said that the proposed paper is expected to be supplemented by similar such discussion seminars on the sidelines of other G20 meetings.
“The discussions are further expected to build informed debate within the G20 meetings and lead to formulation of a coordinated and comprehensive policy approach,” it noted.
In order to inform policymakers on the broader macroeconomic and financial stability implications of crypto assets, the Indian Presidency had requested the IMF to prepare a discussion paper on the topic for the 2nd G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting held in Bengaluru on February 23.
The IMF speaker, Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, presented the discussion paper during the event highlighting the consequences of crypto adoption on the internal and external stability of a country’s economy as well as on the structure of its financial system. He underlined that the purported benefits of crypto assets include cheaper and faster cross border payments, more integrated financial markets, and increased financial inclusion, but these are yet to be realised.
Mancini-Griffoli further added that problems with interoperability, safety and efficiency cannot be guaranteed by the private sector and critical digital infrastructure/platforms for ledgers should be viewed as a public good. He also flagged the global information gaps pertaining to the crypto asset universe and the need to build a deeper understanding of the interlinkages, opportunities and risks pertaining to crypto assets under the aegis of the G20.
“In their entirety, the IMF’s discussion paper, the policy seminar and the joint IMF-FSB paper are expected to integrate the policy questions pertaining to macro-financial and regulatory perspectives of crypto assets and facilitate a global consensus on a well-coordinated and comprehensive policy approach to crypto assets,” the statement from Finance Ministry said.
