Syed Imran Haider 
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Indian Finance Minister, revealed that ‘detailed discussions’ have taken place with other G20 countries about developing standard operating procedure (SOP) aimed at crypto regulation.
In her recent meeting with Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian Finance Minister said that global coordination is required for crypto assets’ regulation.
Crypto regulation
On Monday, speaking in the lower house of the parliament in India, Lok Subha, the Finance Minister of the country answered some questions related to crypto mining and regulation.
Sitharaman noted that cryptocurrencies are currently unregulated in India. She said that all activities, whether the transaction, asset or mining, are all driven by technology.
Therefore, she said that the efforts of a country would not be enough for controlling and regulating cryptocurrencies, given that technology has no borders.
She also said that it was an evolving consensus, due to which the issue had been raised amongst G20 members and they were discussing it in detail for developing a collective SOP (standard operating procedure).
G20 members
The European Union, the UK, the US, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Indonesia, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Argentina make up the Group of Twenty (20) nations.
75% of trade and 85% of GDP globally comes from these twenty countries and they also comprise of two-thirds of the world’s population.
The Indian Finance minister said that they had initiated discussions on the topic with the G20 members because they want the countries to work together for coming up with regulation.
She said that they wanted to develop a comprehensive approach that would cover every aspect of crypto, including mining and trading.
She added that they were working together on the rules. She had also mentioned earlier that under India’s presidency, crypto assets’ regulation would be a priority in G20 meetings.
The reasoning
Sitharaman said that the important thing to note about crypto is that there is not much human intervention and it is more about tech.
She said that they were speaking to other countries because one nation alone could not develop effective regulation. Therefore, all G20 members are now part of the discussion.
The statements from the Indian Finance Minister after she had had a virtual meeting on Thursday with the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva.
She disclosed that the meeting had included a discussion on the role of the IMF and other organizations in helping develop global crypto regulations.
Earlier this month, Ajay Seth, the Economic Affairs Secretary, had revealed that the Indian government was planning on introducing crypto regulation in this year.
Last October, there had been a meeting of Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers of G20 nations.
The Indian Ministry of Finance had said then that Sitharaman had broached the subject of crypto taxation for preventing tax evasion.
Even though there is no legal framework for crypto in India, the government has introduced crypto taxes, which include a 30% tax on crypto income and 1% TDS.
