France’s finance minister has called for a public debate on Bitcoin at next year’s G20 Summit in Buenos Aires.
Speaking on French news channel LCI and quoted by Reuters, Le Maire said that the Bitcoin “question” should form a topic for the international government forum, specifically with regard to regulation:
“I am going to propose to the next G20 president, Argentina, that at the G20 summit in April we have a discussion all together on the question of Bitcoin. 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.”
Bitcoin’s notable price rise this year has been attracting more and more attention not only in mainstream media but from governmental authorities throughout the world. However, individual governments globally are approaching cryptocurrency, and Blockchain technology more broadly, differently.
Some of the countries already regulating cryptocurrency include the US and Japan. So far, only a few countries have instituted a full crypto ban, including Morocco and Bolivia. South Korea may follow suit.
Last week, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen S. Poloz described how the “noise” around cryptocurrency “keeps him awake at night,” while a US regulator conversely said the “impact” of Bitcoin on global economic policy was barely perceptible.
Underscoring the lack of consensus globally on cryptocurrency, the Bank of France Governor, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, countered the notion that Bitcoin is even a currency, and that it should not be treated as one. At a conference in Beijing last month he reportedly told attendees:
“We need to be clear: Bitcoin is in no way a currency, or even a cryptocurrency is a speculative asset. Its value and extreme volatility have no economic basis, and they are nobody’s responsibility.”