EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
France and Germany to push bitcoin regulations at G20 summit
France and Germany announced Thursday that they plan to make a joint proposal on regulating bitcoin at a meeting of G20 finance ministers scheduled to be held in Argentina in March.
Details of exactly what the regulations may entail were nonexistent, though. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the media, “We will have a joint Franco-German analysis of the risks linked to bitcoin, regulation proposals and these will be submitted as a joint proposal to our G20 counterparts.”
Adding absolutely nothing to the conversation and virtue-signaling instead, German counterpart Peter Altmaier added only that “we have a responsibility towards our citizens to explain and reduce the risks.”
Exactly what the regulations may be are speculative but their direction may be highly strict if France leads their creation.
Earlier this week, Le Maire appointed former Bank of France Deputy Governor Jean-Pierre Landau, now an economics professor at Sciences Po (also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies), to head a task force to consider how France should regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Dubbed “Monsieur Bitcoin” by the French press, Landau is regarded to be a notable bitcoin skeptic. Forbes reported that he referred to bitcoin in 2014 as “unsuitable as a means of exchange,” that it was “the tulips of modern times” and that it was only attractive for two reasons: anonymity, as desired by money launderers and tax evaders, and speculation.
Whatever the regulations put forward, the chances of their getting support from the entirety of the G20 are slim. One prominent member, China, has already banned cryptocurrency exchanges and another member of the group, South Korea, may or may not be banning cryptocurrency exchange depending on which way the wind is blowing on a given day.
The news of possible G20 bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulations did not affect markets. But after a rally Wednesday that saw buyers returning to the market seeking bargains, prices tended to be flat across the board. Bitcoin was trading at $11,486.03 as of 8:30 p.m. EST, slightly up from yesterday. Ethereum was trading at $1,057.14, like bitcoin ever so slightly up. Ripple XRP was the exception, up nearly 20 percent, to $1.66.
Photo: governmentza/Flickr
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