Change of record at the top of world finance. Meeting for two days in Asheville, North Carolina, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors recognized that digital financial innovation, including digital assets, could support “broadly shared economic growth” and play a key role in private sector innovation. With, as a key, a commitment to opening “clear paths” to this innovation. The declaration, published by the US Treasury which chairs the G20 this year, is contained in a few paragraphs. Every word was obviously weighed.
Key Points
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bankers Pledge to Establish “Clear Pathways” for Digital Asset Innovation
Club awaits Financial Stability Board findings on cross-border stablecoins and market data
The G20 asks its members to expand the hours of their wholesale payment systems, facing stablecoins that settle 24/7
GENIUS Act, MiCA, JPYC: several G20 members already have their framework, before the summit of heads of state in December
G20 puts digital assets on the growth side
The presidency statement is explicit on the regulatory intent:
“We are committed to advancing responsible and effective regulatory and supervisory frameworks that preserve financial stability, support economic growth, and establish clear pathways for healthy innovation in digital finance and digital assets, while taking into account, where appropriate, cross-border opportunities and challenges. »
Statement from the G20 presidency, following the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, Asheville – Source: US Treasury
A formal clarification, which counts in financial diplomacy: it is a declaration from the presidency, and not a press release adopted unanimously. The chair's statement is the tool used when the round table does not result in a formal consensus signed by the twenty members. The formula had become the norm in recent years, including when Washington simply shunned the meetings organized under the South African presidency.
Lexical shift is measured over three years. In 2023, under Indian presidency, the G20 validated a roadmap built on the joint report of the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board, the framework of which was in one word: macrofinancial risks, stability and avoidance. The club then ruled out the idea of a general ban, without promising anything to the industry. This time, “growth” and “innovation” share the spotlight with “financial stability”.
Stablecoins: The Financial Stability Council must return its copy
The ministers say they are waiting for the conclusions of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the coordinating body of regulators created by the G20 after the 2008 crisis, on two specific areas: the cross-border implications of global stablecoin systems, and the question of the data available on this market.
The second point is less technical than it seems. Supervisors today work with figures aggregated by public dashboards, without detailed vision of the carriers, the corridors used or the real composition of the reserves. Difficult to calibrate a rule on a market that has grown from around twenty billion dollars at the end of 2020 to several hundred billion today, with flows primarily irrigating emerging economies where the digital dollar sometimes replaces the local bank.
In 2023, the FSB established its guiding principle, “same activity, same risk, same regulation”. It has been chaired since the summer of 2025 by Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, one of the central bankers most critical of stablecoins and one of the most consistent promoters of tokenized bank deposits. Suffice it to say that its conclusions will be read line by line by the issuers.
Cross-border payments: open the counters, or let stablecoins work
The G20 also reaffirms its commitment to its roadmap on cross-border payments, launched in 2020 with quantified objectives for the end of 2027: 75% of wholesale payments credited in less than an hour, average cost of fund transfers reduced to below 3%, no corridor beyond 5%. And it asks member countries to extend the opening hours of their wholesale payment systems, RTGS (for real-time gross settlement), this plumbing through which central banks circulate the heaviest amounts.
The request is not trivial. Most of these systems close in the evening and on weekends, which creates dead windows between time zones: a transfer launched on a Friday afternoon in Singapore waits until Monday morning in Europe. The payments committee of the Bank for International Settlements (CPMI) has been advocating since 2024 for a gradual extension towards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. During this time, a transfer of USDT or USDC is settled in a few seconds, including Sunday evening. Competition is the best spur.
