France Wants G20 Nations to Discuss Bitcoin Regulation

France's finance minister is planning to push for a discussion on bitcoin regulation at a G-20 summit in 2018.

Reuters

reported yesterday that Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview on Sunday that he will ask Argentina, which is set to take control of the G20 presidency, to put bitcoin on the agenda during an upcoming gathering in April.

Le Maire was quoted as saying:

"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."

How that conversation will play out remains to be seen. Representatives from G-20 nations have previously discussed the topic through the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which has been studying the tech since 2016.

Indeed, that Le Maire would want to push in this direction is perhaps not surprising, given France's proactive stance on regulation around the tech.

For example, earlier this month the French government gave its approval to new rules that will allow unregistered securities to be traded on a blockchain.

Financial regulators in France also launched an initial coin offering (ICO) initiative earlier this year, dubbed Project UNICORN, that effectively lays the groundwork for token sales to take place under the auspices of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).

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