Money Laundering and Terror Financing are the biggest risk of Crypto: Sitharaman

In her address at a seminar during the ongoing spring meet of the International Monetary Fund, Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said that the biggest risk of cryptocurrency could be money laundering and its use for financing terror, amidst the pioneering fintech revolution.

The Union Minister reached Washington on an official visit to attend the Spring Meetings at the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers meeting and the Central Bank Governor Meeting.

The Minister said, “I think regulation using technology is the only answer. Regulation using technology will have to be so adept, that it has to be not behind the curve, but be sure that it is on the top of it. And that's not possible. If any one country thinks that it can handle it. It has to be across the board.”

Sitharaman highlighted India's performance in the digital world and the government's efforts to build the digital infrastructure framework over the last decade, stressing the increase of the digital adoption rate in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from her official engagements with the World Bank, IMF, G20, and Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Sitharaman attended an event at the Atlantic Council, a think tank based in Washington DC. She will be heading to San Francisco to engage with business leaders and interact with faculty and students at Stanford University.