On Sunday, the French Finance Minister said that France will propose a discussion on Bitcoin regulations at the next G20 meeting.
To the French news channel LCI, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said: “I am going to propose to the next G20 president, Argentina, that at the G20 summit in April we have a discussion altogether on the question of bitcoin.”
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“There is evidently a risk of speculation. We need to consider and examine this and see how (...) with all the other G20 members we can regulate bitcoin,” he added.
The 2018 summit is set to be organized in Argentina, where the financial heads of member countries will be present. The G20 forum includes government officials and central bank governors of the 20 biggest economies of the world.
The rising price of Bitcoin, as well as a number of altcoins, has stirred the mainstream economy. In 2017 alone, Bitcoin gained more than 1,700 percent, and almost 80 percent in December so far.
Money slipping into the crypto economy
The introduction of Bitcoin futures by the CBOE on the 10th of December and CME Group on last Sunday also fueled the token’s soaring price. Many firms are also filling for permission from authorities to launch cryptocurrency-backed ETF funds, which will make Cryptocurrencies more mainstream and accessible to a wider range of investors.
In countries like South Korea, small investors are even preferring to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rather than the stock market.
But outside the crypto economy, this meteoric rise raises concern amongst regulators and governments as more and more money is slipping from the mainstream economy to the unregulated crypto economy.
Also, illicit activities related to the cryptocurrencies is another concern of the government. China already banned all the cryptocurrency exchanges within its borders and Indian tax authorities are surveying the crypto exchanges on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering amid the Bitcoin's popularity in the country. Also on Friday, European Union member states agreed to impose stricter rules on cryptocurrency exchanges to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.
