G20 Announces Plan for Digital Currencies and Digital ID
G20 Agrees In Digital Currencies
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW DELHI (New Delhi)— The Group of 20 (G20), which includes the world’s leading economies, has agreed to build the infrastructure for digital currencies and digital identification, despite criticism that it will lead to more government control over people’s lives.
Discussions are also underway on a global framework to regulate crypto assets, India’s finance minister confirmed earlier, adding that cryptocurrencies could not be regulated efficiently without the cooperation of all countries.
“India’s (G20) presidency has put on the table key issues related to regulating or understanding that there should be a framework for handling issues related to crypto assets,” Nirmala Sitharaman said ahead of the G20 gathering.
Under India’s Presidency, the G20 reached a consensus in New Delhi, the capital, where they adopted a final declaration over the weekend.
The critical issues discussed at the meeting were “building Digital Public Infrastructure, Digital Economy, Cryptoassets, [Central Bank Digital Currencies]”, among others.
Critics, including experts, fear this programmable system could lead to governments eventually deciding on what people can spend their money and how much.
Plans also cold for more policing of cryptocurrencies, which operate outside central banks.
WORLD BANK HAPPY
Yet the World Bank, in a report prepared for the G20 summit, praised India’s use of Digital Public Infrastructure to “enhance financial inclusion” and delivery of public goods and services.
“The India Stack exemplifies this approach, combining digital ID, interoperable payments, a digital credentials ledger, and account aggregation. In just six years, it has achieved a remarkable 80% financial inclusion rate-a feat that would have taken nearly five decades without a DPI approach,” said the foreword to the report.
The foreword was written by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who has come under fire over her role in rolling out the plan.
Máxima, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), was a keynote speaker at the annual IMF – World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C., Worthy News reported earlier.
“If designed properly, CBDCs could hold great promise to support a digital financial system that works for everyone. But that is an important ‘if’”, Queen Maxima said last year.
“If designed and implemented with inclusion in mind, CBDCs could offer many options to expand access to the unbanked and to serve the vulnerable and the poor,” she explained.
However, “Maxima openly advocates for programmable money; power in central banks, without parliamentary accountability,” argued leading Dutch financial journalist Arno Wellens.
Yet she is “an unelected official who is outside politics under [Dutch] constitutional law,” he wrote on the social networking site X, previously known as Twitter. “This is a serious attack on democracy,” added Wellens, reflecting a broader debate in the Netherlands on government control and digitalization.
However, with the G20 moving forward, it remained unlikely Sunday that the trend towards a more digital economy would be halted.
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