Germany Wants Strong Bitcoin (Cryptocurrency) Regulation to Prevent Illegalities
Germany is among the European countries which are pushing for cryptocurrency regulation. In fact, Germany has decided to join France in its plans to regulate bitcoin in the Group of 20 countries.
One of the main reasons why several European governments have been pushing for bitcoin regulation is linked to their concern that the cryptocurrency might be used by criminals for money-laundering or to finance drug trafficking and terrorism.
The French Finance Minister proposed to adopt regulation in the Group of 20
So, German authorities agree with a proposal coming from the French Finance Minister, which actually raised the subject on whether joint regulation of bitcoin in the Group of 20 would be a good option.
The French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, has actually asked his counterparts in the Group of 20 to take under consideration the possibility of adopting joint regulation on the digital currency.
Until now, besides Germany, Italy has also shown support for this proposal. The Italian authorities have also been vocal on the intentions to regulate bitcoin. The European Union has also looked into this subject and reportedly it might support some bitcoin rules that were pushed by the UK.
“Kathleen Brooks, a research director at FOREX.com, told CNBC that classification by the German government gave bitcoin legitimacy to be used as a settlement currency in one of the world’s largest economies. She said this was a big step forward for the bitcoin movement.”
The Finance Minister of Germany stated that considering the risks and the impacts that cryptocurrencies could have on the financial system in general, it makes perfect sense to discuss about regulating them. The minister also said that the next meeting of the Group of 20 might be a moment to have this discussion.
The Finance Ministry in Germany also stated that the institution has been monitoring the development of bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. The volatility of bitcoin and of the digital currency market has not given authorities a lot of confidence. The price of bitcoin has suffered some impressive increases, but also some unexpected drops this year.
Furthermore, more and more investors seem to become interested in this market, thus, the risks are also enhancing.
European Authorities have previously said that they need to revise regulation on money laundering, to include cryptocurrencies. Several authorities previously said that cryptocurrencies can facilitate cybercrime, money-laundering, terrorism, and such activities could increase along with the growth of this market.
