Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of Finance in India, has expressed concerns over the usage of cryptocurrencies. The minister cited her stance in the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hosted in Washington last week, where Libra’s developments held the center stage of discussion.
Sitharaman stated that many countries cautioned against rushing into cryptocurrencies during the forum, and every nation must show extreme alert even before anything is said concerning the coins. “On our side, the Reserve Bank Governor spoke about it during our turn to intervene. I got the sense that many countries were cautioning on rushing into this. Countries will have to show extreme caution much before anything is said or moved on this,” she said when questioned about the debates on Libra.
The minister also added, “Some of them (countries) of course even suggested that they shouldn’t be using, all of us shouldn’t be using the name “stable currency” because that’s the expression they used. Many cautioned to the extent saying even the name should not be a stable currency, it should relate to virtual currency or something of the kind.”
At present, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has prohibited the use of virtual coins in the nation. Sitharaman mentioned the cautious step every country took while discussing the currencies. “This morning, some of the presentations were also highlighting the strengths of such virtual currency. But equally, everyone without fail spoke about the challenges together with talking about it as a necessary step forward. So everyone was stepping cautiously on it.”
Global leaders are concerned that cryptocurrencies can add to the existing acts of currency manipulations, terrorism funding, and every illicit activity. IMF has reported the engagement of the organization with others like the European Central Bank, Financial Stability Board, to dig the benefits and risks associated with the stable coins.
