Private Crypto Ban is a Pivotal Need for India: Comments IMF Chief 

• The IMF Chief told that there are disagreements over debt restructuring.
• Kristalina Georgieva commented that banning private crypto should be considered an option.
• She also told that CBDCs and stablecoins should be differentiated from private cryptocurrencies.

Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said during the G20 meeting in Bengaluru, India, that there arose some disagreements over debt restricting for the troubled economies. She added that the discussions on banning private cryptocurrencies should be considered.

On Saturday, the IMF Chief, after conversing with the Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, told that the meeting would consider all public and private creditors, stating:

On debt restructuring, while there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors.

During the roundtable conference, the delegates were conferring about the requests of India’s South Asian neighbors like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan for urgent IMF funds to compensate for the economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.  

Significantly, Georgieva affirmed that “there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries”, which she has confirmed after several discussions.

In addition, Georgieva commented that apart from restructuring the debts, crypto regulation is also a pivotal need for the country, noting:

There has to be a very strong push for regulation… if regulation fails, if you’re slow to do it, then we should not take off the table banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk.

Further, Georgieva stressed that there should be a definite distinction between the “central bank digital currencies [CBDC] that are backed by the state and stablecoins and crypto assets that are privately issued.”