- G20 in full support of FATF’s recommendations
- The group admits cryptocurrencies don’t threaten monetary stability
- Crypto exchanges say guidelines are unfavorable
The Group of Twenty (G20) has reaffirmed their previous position on cryptocurrencies. The group is in full support of guidelines set by the global anti-money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and are calling for their fast implementation.
Cryptos Don’t Constitute Threat
The international forum for governments from 19 leading economies and the European Union (EU) made the declaration during the close of the 2019 G20 summit. The summit was held in Osaka, Japan on June 28-29, 2019, and according to the declaration, the forum stated:
“We reaffirm our commitment to applying the recently amended FATF Standards to virtual assets and related providers for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.”
According to the declaration by the G20 leaders, cryptocurrencies don’t currently constitute a threat to monetary stability and they believe that technological innovation has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the economy. The forum has stated it supports the ongoing work on those assets by the Financial Stability Board and other standard-setting bodies besides encouraging multilateral responses when needed.
Declaration Makes the Position Official
The declaration also reaffirmed the forums determination to comply with the new Financial Action Task Force (FATF) anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards for digital assets. As per the document, co-signers are also stepping up their commitments to enhance cybersecurity.
The FATF released its recommended crypto guidelines on June 21, 2019. The new guidelines compel cryptocurrency exchanges to collect and transfer customer information including the originator’s name, their account number, and location information as well as the recipient’s name and beneficiary’s account number with regard to transactions. While G20 had already affirmed the group’s intention to follow the FATF’s guidelines, the Osaka declaration makes the position official.
Expressed Reservations
Cryptocurrency exchanges, on the other hand, had already expressed their reservations about the implementation of the new regulations, with leading operators like Circle, Coinbase and Chainalysis saying the implementation of the FATF guidelines will be costly to implement and may require unprecedented collaboration globally. The contents of the declaration mostly reaffirm those in a joint communiqué published on the website of Japan’s Ministry of Finance on June 9, following the G20 meeting held in Fukuoka, Japan.
