deVere Group founder Nigel Green has said G20 leaders must act to develop a multilateral framework for cryptocurrency regulation.
Green, the founder and CEO of world leading financial advisory body the deVere Group, urged attendees at this week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Japan to examine the issue, saying: “Due to the astonishing and quickening pace of the digitalisation of the global economy – and the far-reaching impact of this – political leaders, finance ministers, central bank representatives and others at this year’s G20 summit must ensure decisive steps towards a multilateral cryptocurrency regulatory framework are taken. A failure to do so would be, in my opinion, irresponsible and negligent.”
Green added: “The cryptocurrency sector continues to grow. Indeed, the value of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has soared 193% in value year-to-date. This has had the effect of pulling up all other major digital currencies. This isn’t solely an impressive rally – which it is too, of course – it also underscores that the already burgeoning sector is becoming unstoppable as institutional investors increasingly step off the sidelines and jump into the sector. They understand, as do retail investors, that in our ever-more digitalised, globalised world, borderless digital currencies are the future of money and they want to be and need to be part of it.
The CEO’s call for international cryptocurrency regulation comes in the wake of Facebook’s launching its own cryptocurrency, Libra, which has already sparked calls for closer observation of cryptocurrencies by the G20’s Financial Stability Board.
Green continued: “The G20 summit is a golden opportunity for leaders to position themselves on the right side of history. By adopting a common set of regulatory guidelines, the world’s financial leaders can harness the potentially enormous economic benefits that digital money can bring and mitigate the risks. Now is the time – especially given that at the summit in Japan, one of the most crypto-advanced jurisdictions, has drawn on its experience and is preparing to share a crypto regulation solution at the summit.”
