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FM Nirmala Sitharaman expresses concern on cryptocurrency

Nirmala-Sitharaman-bitcoin (1)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed her opinion on the usage of cryptocurrencies at the annual meet for International Monetary Fund and World Bank

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed her opinion on the usage of cryptocurrencies at the annual meet for International Monetary Fund and World Bank held at Washington on Sunday, saying that many countries have warned against rushing into cryptocurrencies. The concern came over as Facebook’s proposed Libra virtual currency was a topic of discussion.

According to reports, Sitharaman told a bunch of Indian reporters while answering to a question over the Libra discussion that on their side, the RBI governor spoke about it during their turn to intervene. She said that they sensed that several countries were warning on rushing towards it and taking extremely cautionary steps much before anything was said or moved on it.

The Reserve Bank of India banned the use of crypto in India some time ago. Some of the countries suggested that virtual currencies shouldn’t even be named stable currencies.

In June, Facebook announced the launch of its cryptocurrency Libra, also known as ‘stable coin,’ meaning that its value is tied to that of underlying fiat currency such as the dollar.

After China’s and Facebook’s proposed digital currency announcements, global leaders are already worried that crypto might add to the long list of the present tensions between the global superpowers, especially dealing with currency manipulation.

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director at IMF, said that the organization has been engaged extensively with others including, Financial Stability Board and European Central Bank, on questions and doubts relating to digital currency and stable coins about the benefits and risks involved, adding that it might be abused for illegal purposes.

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