India Plans to Develop Crypto SOPs As the Country Will Soon Take Over G20 Presidency
Last Saturday, October 15, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced her plan to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for digital assets. India seeks to undertake this role as it will undertake the G20 presidency for the period between Dec. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30, 2023.
Previously, the Indian Finance Minister called for global cooperation and collaboration to decide on the crypto’s future. Furthermore, she had also asked to maintain caution on mainstream crypto adoption citing risks to financial stability.
But in a statement to local crypto reporters last Saturday, Sitharaman said that “That (crypto) will also be part of India's thing (agenda during G20 presidency)”. As we know, the G20 is the global forum for addressing issues of global importance. Since India is taking the presidency, it feels the need for a collaborative effort on tackling the digital assets market.
Also, as cryptocurrencies have been used worldwide, the Indian Finance Minister believes that no country alone can effectively handle cryptocurrencies. She added:
”We would definitely want to collate all this and do a bit of study and then bring it on to the table of the G20 so that members can discuss it, and hopefully arrive at a framework or SOP so that globally, countries can have a technology-driven regulatory framework. But if it’s a question of platforms, trading of assets which have been created, buying and selling making profits and, more importantly in all, these countries are in a position to understand the money trade, are we in a position to establish for what purpose it’s being used?”
The Indian Finance Minister has also pointed out the role of crypto assets in money laundering as detected by the Indian law enforcement agency.
On the other hand, India’s central bank - Reserve Bank of India - has been spearheading efforts to build its own central bank digital currency (CBDC). Earlier this month, the RBI released a list of proposed features and reasoning behind the CBDC such as trust, safety, liquidity, settlement finality and integrity.
World Bank President David Malpass has also offered to work with India’s successful digitization efforts said Sitharaman. Referring to her annual meetings with the IMF and the World Bank, Sitharaman added: "There's certainly a lot of appreciation. In fact, with a sense of amazement that India could do it in such a short period, it's digital applications, which have been successful, how people have adapted to it”.