Washington: The biggest risk of cryptocurrencies, according to Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, might be money laundering and its use to finance terrorism in the midst of the pioneering fintech revolution.
In her address at a seminar during the ongoing spring meet of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Sitharaman said: “I think the biggest risk for all countries across the board will be the money laundering aspect and also the aspect of currency being used for financing terror.”
“I think regulation using technology is the only answer. Regulation using technology will have to be so adept, that it has to be not behind the curve, but be sure that it is on the top of it. And that’s not possible. If any one country thinks that it can handle it. It has to be across the board,” the Minister said.
The Union Minister arrived in Washington this morning for an official visit to the World Bank’s Spring Meetings, the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting, and the Central Bank Governors Meeting (FMCBG).
The Finance Minister took part in a high-level panel discussion on “Money at a Crossroad” sponsored by Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, on the first day of the visit.
“We are at the crossroads around how fast, how far, and in what proportion, but I see this as a one way street in which Digital Money is going to play a bigger role,” the IMF chief said in her opening remarks.
Ms Sitharaman praised India’s digital performance and the government’s efforts to develop a digital infrastructure framework over the last decade, emphasising the country’s increased digital adoption rate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If I use 2019 data, the digital adoption rate in India is about 85 per cent. But globally that same year it was only somewhere near 64 per cent. So the pandemic time actually helped us to test and prove for ourselves that it is simple to use, common people can use it, and adoption actually was proven,” Ms Sitharaman asserted.
Sitharaman attended an event at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, DC, on Monday in addition to her formal engagements with the World Bank, IMF, G20, and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The visit will also include several bilateral interactions, including with Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and South Africa as well as a high-level meeting with World Bank President David Malpass, a Ministry of Finance statement said.
Notably, once the meetings conclude in Washington, Ms Sitharaman will head to San Francisco on April 24, where she will engage with business leaders and will also interact with the faculty and students at Stanford University. She will depart for India on April 27.
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