G7 to cooperate on tighter crypto regulation: Report
The next G7 meeting could bring pressure from the seven largest democracies for tougher regulations on cryptocurrencies around the world, the Kyoto News Agency reported on March 25.
Together, leaders from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and the European Union will outline a cooperative strategy to increase crypto transparency and improve consumer protection, as well as address potential risks to the global financial system, Kyoto officials said. This year’s summit will take place in Hiroshima in May.
Among the G7 members, Japan already regulates cryptocurrencies, while the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation is due to come into force in 2024. The UK is gradually developing its crypto framework, with a special category for crypto assets on tax. forms recently introduced, as well as plans for a digital pound.
Related: The limitations of the EU’s new cryptocurrency regulations
Canada treats digital assets as securities, and the US currently uses existing financial regulations, with some expecting a cryptoregulatory framework from lawmakers in the coming months.
Parallel work towards standards for digital assets is being done by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the group of the 20 largest economies in the world – collectively known as the G20 – announced in February during a meeting in Bengaluru, India.
Recommendations on the regulation, supervision and oversight of global stablecoins, cryptoasset activities and markets are scheduled to be delivered by July and September. However, it is unclear what the general tone of the recommendations will be.
For example, in February the IMF released an action plan for cryptoassets, urging countries to abolish legal tender status for cryptocurrencies. The IMF’s opposition to crypto as legal tender is well known, especially since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as its official currency in September 2021. However, the fund has advocated for countries to adopt greater crypto regulation, while working on an interoperable central bank digital currency platform to connect multiple global CBDCs and enable cross-border transactions.
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