G20 risk watchdog warns of 'significant gaps' in global crypto rules

By Elizabeth Howcroft and Marc Jones

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) -There are "significant gaps" in countries' attempts to regulate fast-growing crypto markets, which could potentially harm financial stability, the G20's risk watchdog warned on Thursday.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a body founded in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, made a series of recommendations on rules for crypto in 2023, to try to bring it in line with the mainstream financial sector.

In Thursday's review, it said while some progress had been made, international implementation and coordination of rules remained too "fragmented, inconsistent, and insufficient to address the global nature of crypto-asset markets".

Financial stability risks remain "limited at present" it assessed, but they are now rising with the surge in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies having doubled the value of the global crypto market to $4 trillion over the last year.

"This is consequential," FSB secretary general John Schindler told Reuters, describing the concerns raised in the review. "These crypto assets can move across borders very easily, much more easily than other financial assets."

STABLECOIN RULES LACKING

This year's surge in the value of the crypto market has come against a backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-crypto stance.

Schindler said there was a need for close monitoring as crypto becomes increasingly connected with the traditional financial system and stablecoins - cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar for the most part - become more widely used.

One of the key concerns flagged by the FSB's report was that hardly any countries have complete regulatory frameworks for stablecoins yet.

While still small in comparison to the bitcoin-dominated cryptocurrency markets, the market for stablecoins has grown by almost three-quarters over the last year to just under $290 billion, a trajectory expected to continue with U.S. rules on them now in place

The FSB's report reviewed 29 jurisdictions' implementation of crypto and stablecoin recommendations, including the U.S., EU, Hong Kong and the UK, although the U.S. only participated in the stablecoin aspect. El Salvador, where the world's largest stablecoin, Tether, is based did not take part, however.

Schindler said the latest review had still been worthwhile even without El Salvador's input given the FSB was already aware of the risks, but stressed the need for better global cooperation and coordination from all jurisdictions going forward.

"We can all put in place frameworks, but if there are people who are not cooperating and helping each other, it's just going to be really challenging because these things just they don't observe borders," he said.

RISKS 'LIMITED AT PRESENT' BUT GROWING

Global rulemakers were jolted in action by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and demise of TerraUSD/Luna coins in 2022.

There has been major jitters over the last week too, with the largest crypto crash in history on Friday triggering almost $20 billion of liquidations in the market.

The FSB's report laid out a list of eight recommendations for jurisdictions to speed up the implementation of comprehensive and globally consistent rules and for better cross-border cooperation and coordination.

They follow similar concerns raised by the European Union's securities watchdog in April that even small markets can be the source of bigger problems in the financial system.

Even if countries have their own regulatory regimes, they can still be impacted by the activities of crypto companies who are headquartered offshore, Schindler said.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris and Marc Jones in London; Editing by Louise Heavens)