G20 Countries Opt to Regulate Cryptocurrency to Battle Money Laundering and Terrorism

Money laundering in general and money laundering via cryptocurrency in particular is something that preoccupies any political leadership of industrial nation in the world. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, however, makes it very difficult for individual states to fight such cyber-crimes alone, and global cooperation is certainly necessary.

This is why the participants of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina have agreed together (which in itself is quite impressive) to collaborate in order to better regulate cryptocurrency transactions and assets. Another issue of grave concern for virtually all of the G20 countries is how terrorism and also other malicious acts are being financed – and unfortunately how cryptocurrency is exploited for the nefarious financial goals of such terrorists, rogue nations and even hackers.

Section 25 of the mutual declaration, which was signed by the G20 countries, states the following:

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.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international organization (authorized by 37 countries) that is especially designated to detect and repel money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the global financial system. To meet the organization’s goals in this new crypto era, earlier this year the FATF began discussing rules regarding cryptocurrency exchanges. Now, the FATF has been acknowledged by the G20 nations as the authority that would determine proper cryptocurrency regulations.

Another international body with which the G20 is working and is also cited in the declaration is the Financial Stability Board (FSB); the FSB was tasked by the G20 to initiate the development of the framework for monitoring the cryptocurrency industry. In July, the FSB has reported that although it “believes that crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability at this time, it recognises the need for vigilant monitoring in light of the speed of market developments.”

If so, it appears that the most industrial nations in the world have begun to pay much more attention to the cryptocurrency industry – with special regard to the ruinous potential it might hold if it would run rampant without any boundaries and oversight.