Circle, Coinbase, and Huobi Executives to Meet at G20 for Clarity on Crypto Regulation
Leaders of top crypto ventures including Circle, Coinbase, bitFlyer, Kraken, and Huobi will convene in Osaka, Japan, later this month to interact with policymakers and central bank executives of the countries of the G20 forum. This, according to a report by Financial News published on June 17, 2019.
Facing the Stalwarts Head On
Representatives of the world’s top 20 economies are scheduled to meet in Japan on June 28 and 29 at the G20 summit. Coinciding with this high-profile international summit will be crypto industry’s own distinguished event – the V20 summit.
Thrown together with just six weeks’ notice to ensure it runs concurrent with the G20 summit, the V20 event will witness participation from top executives from significant crypto businesses across the world. Notably, the event’s invitation has also extended to G20 attendees.
One of the top priorities of V20 attendees will be to discuss an eyebrow-raising proposal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which requires crypto exchanges, custodian banks, and hedge funds to collect, hold, and remit information about their customer’s transactions whose value exceeds $1,000. Per the report, this information must be submitted with law enforcement agencies upon their request.
The intergovernmental body is set to publish its latest set of crypto-specific proposals on June 21, 2019. The report notes that except for the aforementioned controversial proposal, the rest of the FATF’s recommendations are widely supported by crypto enterprises.
Malcolm Wright, the chief compliance officer of a Hong Kong-based digital asset firm Diginex, expressed his skepticism about the feasibility of the information-collection rule. He said:
“It’s an overlay of what happens in traditional banking put in the context of what happens in crypto.”
Similar concerns were echoed by the membership body Global Digital Finance which stated that such strict and granular management might force traders and investors to transact cryptocurrencies off exchanges which would make trades “significantly harder for law enforcement to track or control.”
The V20 attendees hope that the event will provide them with a window of opportunity to put forth their concerns to the FATF and global policymakers. The event will also act as a platform for the FATF to provide more clarity and information on the set of proposals.
According to event organizers, some of the prominent attendees at the V20 summit will be Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), Congressmen from Taiwan, Japan and Australia, and the regional economic counselor from the French embassy in Japan.
Countries Complying with FATF Recommendations
Established in 1989, FATF is a standard-setting intergovernmental body that aims to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.
Having a total strength of 36 major countries, the FATF has a commanding position in the international financial regulations space.
As previously reported by BTCManager, Russia and Pakistan are said to have begun developing cryptocurrency regulations to comply with the FATF’s action plan.
