The last summit under the Indonesian presidency will take place in Bali on November 15.

Upcoming G20 summits are expected to focus on crypto regulation. This is due to money laundering and terrorist financing with cryptocurrencies.

The last G20 summit under the Indonesian presidency will take place on November 15. Subsequently, India will assume the chairmanship of future G20 summits for one year from December 2022.

Ahead of the G20 summit, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared her thoughts on crypto regulation. Last Tuesday, addressing the Indian Council for International Economic Relations Research (ICRIER), she noted that, “We have not submitted any plan to regulate digital assets. The cryptocurrency regulation agenda will be presented at the G20 meeting.”

Illicit Activities Financed with Cryptocurrencies

Svetlana Martynova, a senior UN official, believes that the prevalence of crypto financing terrorist activities may have quadrupled in recent years. She estimates that 20% of terrorist attacks have been crypto-funded.

Furthermore, according to a report by Chainalysis, illicit entities received close to $10 billion this year. While, in 2021, it was a record, with illicit entities receiving more than 15 billion dollars.

India to Prioritize Crypto Regulation at G20 Summit

“You don’t know where the road takes you. Is it drug financing? Is it terrorist financing or is it just a game? Successful regulation will not be possible if only one country does it. We haven’t come up with any plans yet. So we need to get all G20 members on board to see what is the best way to do it,” according to Nirmala Sitharaman.

India has maintained a strict attitude against cryptocurrencies. Therefore, as the host, they are more likely to bring up the crypto regulation discussion at the summit. Earlier, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah stated that cryptocurrencies are responsible for the increase in drug trafficking in India.

FATF Takes Charge of Crypto Regulation

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is ready to strengthen its battle against money laundering and terrorist financing.

They are preparing to conduct annual checks to ensure countries enforce anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations on cryptocurrency providers operating in their jurisdiction, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Al Jazeera.

Countries that do not follow AML (anti-money laundering) guidelines could be added to the “grey list”. Syria, Uganda, and Barbados are part of the list. The FATF increases its monitoring of the countries that are part of the gray list.

In addition, the FATF blacklists countries that continue to fail to cooperate in dealing with AML. Iran is part of the blacklist. They are subject to economic sanctions and other financial restrictions by the FATF.

By Audy Castaneda

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