At the G20 finance ministers meetings in Bengaluru, India, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is now debating a potential total ban on cryptocurrencies. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has indicated that there is confusion around the classification of digital currency and that she prefers to distinguish and regulate crypto assets than outright banning them. She thinks that if cryptocurrencies pose a greater risk to financial stability, the option of banning them should still be on the table. The second part of the year will see the release of regulatory framework recommendations that are being jointly developed by the IMF, the Financial Stability Board, and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Attorneys for cryptocurrencies have rejected statements made by Gary Gensler, the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in an interview with New York Magazine. Gensling’s “opinion is not the law,” according to Jake Chervinsky, a lawyer and policy lead at the Blockchain Association, and the SEC is not authorised to regulate any of them. Logan Bolinger, an attorney, added his two cents, claiming that Gensler’s views on what constitutes a security or not are not legally binding. Gabriel Shapiro, general attorney of investment firm Delphi Laboratories, described the SEC’s ruling on the business and the need for 12,305 litigation. According to Shapiro, the government would need to sue each token developer because more than 12,300 tokens worth approximately $663 billion are unregistered securities that are prohibited in the United States. The SEC has primarily dealt with cryptocurrencies by fining token makers and mandating that the issuer register, or by fining token creators and ordering that the produced tokens be destroyed and delisted from exchanges.
