The G20 is exploring whether it has the potential to regulate cryptocurrencies, with governments around the world scrambling to come up with a legislative solution for what the European Central Bank has called the ‘Wild West of crypto finance’.

Speaking on Saturday, Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, said that the members of the G20 are considering their options for crypto regulation. India, serving as the G20 president for 2023, has spent years debating drafting a law to regulate or ban cryptocurrencies.

Following a meeting with the central bank’s directors in New Delhi, Sitharaman said: "We are talking to all nations, that if it requires regulation, then one country alone cannot do anything. We are talking with all nations, if we can make some standard operating procedure which is followed by everyone to make a regulatory framework, and if it can be effective.”

State officials and central bank governors from the G20 members will descend on India later this month.

For its part, the Indian government under Narendra Modi has taken a strong stance against cryptocurrencies and has called on global action to deal with the problems posed by them. The Reserve Bank of India has taken an even stronger stance, arguing that cryptocurrencies are similar to Ponzi schemes and should be banned.

The Indian finance minister Sitharaman is also set to meet with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) this week to receive an update on the investigation into Adani Group’s withdrawal of its Rs20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO). The group's stock price has crashed over the past several weeks following a report from US firm Hindenburg Research published at the end of January which accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. It claims that Adani Group has been engaged in “the largest con in corporate history.”

Adani Group has denied all allegations.

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