G7 finance ministers have expressed strong support for the need to regulate cryptocurrencies and especially private stablecoins.

Global regulation to come?

In a December 7 press release , the US Department of the Treasury reports that finance ministers from G7 member countries have spoken out in favor of cryptocurrency regulation .

This videoconference, which took place on Monday, December 7, brought together central bank governors and finance ministers from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, the United States and the European Commission.

Although the subject mainly discussed was that of the Covid-19 pandemic, cryptocurrencies were also the subject of heated discussions.

Participants discussed the measures taken to cope with the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrencies and especially stablecoins . Actions taken by governments to prevent their use for illegal purposes were also discussed.

On this subject, the participants of this videoconference are unanimous, a global regulation is necessary :

“The G7 is very supportive of the need to regulate digital currencies. Ministers and governors reiterated their support for the G7 joint statement on digital payments released in October. „

In this statement released last October, the G7 already affirmed its position on global stablecoins. G7 members warned of the lack of compliance of some stablecoins, and that these should be closely monitored.

Private stablecoins in the sights? Not only…

The institutions refer directly to the Facebook project, formerly Libra renamed to Diem . This private stablecoin under the management of the Diem Association does not appeal to regulators, who take a dim view of the introduction of such a cryptocurrency across the world.

Although the Diem Association claims to be independent from Facebook, the digital giant remains the initiator of this project, and is certainly pulling the strings. With a launch scheduled for next January , the first version of the stablecoin Diem is still awaiting approval from the Swiss authorities.

While Facebook’s Diem is still being watched by regulators, regulators are also looking at the digital yuan . The deployment of this digital currency of China could have important economic consequences. However, the majority of G7 central banks are also working on a digital version of their currency.

The G7 would therefore seek to follow China’s efforts in this area, while trying to maintain its control capacities in terms of monetary policy.