Synchronised global regulation of crypto needed: PM Modi at WEF

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called for synchronised global action to regulate cryptocurrencies, at a time when India is contemplating bringing a legislation to regulate such virtual currencies.

Speaking at the virtual summit of the World Economic Forum, Modi said that steps taken by one country to regulate cryptocurrencies may not be sufficient, given the kind of technology involved.

“Today with change in global order, the challenges we face are also increasing. To fight these challenges, every country and every international organisation needs to take collective and synchronised action. Supply chain disruption, inflation and climate change are such examples,” Modi said. “Another example is cryptocurrency. The kind of technology that is linked to it, steps taken by one country will be insufficient to face such challenges. We have to take one view on it.”

Modi also called for the reform of multilateral organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund, as he expressed doubt on whether they are capable of tackling such new challenges. 

“Looking at the global scenario, the question is whether multilateral organisations in the new world order are ready and capable to tackle such challenges. When these organisations were established, the circumstances were different. Today, the situation is different. That’s why it is the responsibility of all democratic countries to emphasise reform of such institutions so that they can be readied to face today’s and tomorrow’s challenges,” he said.

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that global action can manage borderless technology and no country has a one-point formula. "Even as we are thinking at a national level, there should simultaneously be a global mechanism through which we are constantly monitoring the movement of technology," she had said at an event.

“So whether it is your cryptocurrency, whether it is your technology-driven payment system, whether it is data privacy, whether it is ensuring that data itself is used ethically, regulating it will have to be a collective effort,” Sitharaman had said.

The government had listed a Bill seeking to ban all private cryptocurrencies for Parliament’s Winter Session but did not introduce it for discussion.

"The regulations both executive and legislative, at least till now, have only been catching up with technology. So long as the executive and legislature are only catching up, you will never be on the top of it," Sitharaman had said. “With technology, I am not sure they can ever be on-the-top-of-it kind of situation because it is ever changing and it is ever evolving.”