Will Bitcoin usher in global joint regulation? French Finance Minister proposes G20 summit to discuss

After several countries have taken regulatory measures, the risks caused by the virtual currency craze are about to come under discussion at the international level.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday that he would propose to Argentina, the new G20 presidency, that Bitcoin regulation be included as one of the topics for discussion at the summit in April next year, according to French media LCI.

He mentioned:

I don't like it (Bitcoin), it can hide activities like drug trafficking and terrorism.

There are clearly speculative risks that we need to consider and explore how to regulate Bitcoin with other G20 members.

Germany and Italy welcomed Le Maire's proposal. Bloomberg quoted the German Ministry of Finance as saying that it is meaningful to discuss the speculative risks of virtual currencies and their impact on the financial system at the international level. Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan also said that he was happy to discuss Le Maire's proposal.

Since the beginning of this year, Bitcoin has risen nearly 20 times. Currently, the quotes on major trading platforms are all above $19,000, and the prices on some smaller exchanges, such as London's CEX.IO, have exceeded $20,000.

According to Convoy Investments, this price surge also makes Bitcoin surpass the tulip bubble to become the largest bubble in history.

In addition to the speculative risks brought by the bubble itself, the anonymity of transactions has also caused countries to worry about Bitcoin being used for money laundering and terrorist financing activities . In Goldman Sachs' view, it is precisely because of these problems that although Bitcoin has risen rapidly, it is difficult for institutional investors to enter the Bitcoin market and it is difficult to replace gold.

Goldman Sachs reported:

Investors who invest in gold through ETFs, futures and commodity indices are automatically subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations, which have long been part of the market. Even physical transactions such as jewelry, bars and coins have faced increasing regulation around the world over the past few decades.

In contrast, there is still a lack of clear solutions on how to implement anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing supervision in virtual currency transactions, which is difficult to achieve even in theory. This poses a great obstacle to professional investors who want to enter this market.