IMF's Gita Gopinath bats for regulating cryptocurrencies, seeks global policy

Gita Gopinath, Chief Economic of International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Wednesday supported regulating cryptocurrencies, stating that it will always be a challenge to ban crypto as they operate from offshore exchanges. She also suggested a global policy and coordinated measures for regulating cryptocurrencies.

Addressing an event organised by the NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research), Gopinath said, "I think cryptocurrencies are a particular challenge for emerging markets. It seems to be more attractive to adopt cryptocurrencies and assets in emerging economies than in advanced economies."

Her remarks come at a time when India is considering bringing a bill in the Parliament to death with challenges poised by unregulated crypto coins. Presently, there are no regulations or bans on the use of cryptos in the country.

Gita Gopinath, who is slated to become the first deputy managing director of IMF early next year, stressed that regulation is necessary for cryptocurrencies and assets.

"Countries around the world are trying different things, there is obviously challenges to banning (cryptocurrencies and assets)," IMF chief economist said.

She said that no individual country could solve the crypto problem alone due to the complex cross-border transactions. "Because a lot of these crypto exchanges are offshore, they are not subject to the regulation of a particular country... So, there is a need for a global policy on that front urgently," she observed.

Centre may not introduce cryptocurrency bill in ongoing Winter Session: Sources

The Centre's proposed bill on cryptocurrency is unlikely to be brought in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, sources told Republic. Prior to the beginning of the current session, the Centre had listed the "Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021" on Lok Sabha's official website. However, it is now being reported that the centre is unlikely to bring the crypto bill in the ongoing session, PTI quoting sources stated.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha website had stated that a cryptocurrency bill will be introduced to "create a facilitative framework" for the creation of digital currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

 "The Bill also seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses," the Parliament website had mentioned.

(With PTI inputs)