Jens Münzer, Head of Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), visited the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) to discuss cryptocurrency regulation, according to a post on the NBG’s website on May 18.
Representatives of the NBG, international financial institutions (IFI), the private sector, commercial banks, brokerage, audit and legal firms were all present at the meeting, whose main purpose was the exchange of experience in cryptocurrency regulation. At the meeting, participants had the opportunity to receive detailed information on the crypto industry from the head of Europe’s leading financial supervisory authority.
Cryptocurrency-related developments are taking shape all over the world, and Georgia is no exception. The country is a global mining hotspot, ranked second in the world by the number of mining facilities, according to a 2017 study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
Despite its presence in cryptocurrency-related headlines, Georgia still has a long road ahead when it comes to regulation. In a December 2017 statement, the NBG urged citizens to be cautious of digital currencies, warning the public that cryptocurrencies do not constitute a legal means of payment, and that crypto-related activity falls outside the government’s regulatory scope.