Cryptocurrencies

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Cryptocurrencies are gaining new ground every day, asserting their presence as a future competitor to cash currencies, prompting major countries and others to pay attention to them, especially since the G20 summit held in Riyadh in November 2020. That summit tasked the Financial Stability Board, the Financial Action Task Force, and the International Monetary Fund with continuing to study how to achieve international monetary coordination to establish frameworks that protect users of these currencies, while working on drafting laws that regulate their issuance and trading mechanisms at the international level, and issuing mandatory instructions to prevent this trading until controls are established regarding it. These controls include the legal, regulatory, and supervisory requirements necessary for the safe trading of cryptocurrencies. The topic was also discussed in subsequent G20 meetings, as well as in various international gatherings.

This means that the policy of ignoring cryptocurrencies, which lasted for many years, has proven ineffective contrary to what seemed to be the case at first. The idea of 'Bitcoin', which is the most important of these currencies, began in 2008 and appeared on the internet the following year through programmers who were anonymous, promoting that it would preserve the privacy of sellers and buyers, be free from government and bank control, and be traded through a peer-to-peer protocol, meaning user to user, relying on modern encryption technologies to enhance security in its transactions. These currencies only exist on the internet and through electronic wallets, and can be obtained either through mining according to specific mechanisms that have become known to those concerned, or by purchasing them from their markets and exchanges.

The bet that those who wagered on cryptocurrency trading remaining within narrow and limited frameworks, or that interest in them would fade, has not materialized. It has become evident that trading in them is increasing rather than decreasing, which has forced their presence onto the global agenda in recent years, especially after the growing concerns surrounding them. This concern is justified, as cryptocurrencies can disrupt the functions of central banks around the world, be used to finance illicit transactions, or evade taxes, among other potential issues.