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In a letter issued on Thursday, the president of the global financial crimes watchdog emphasized the imperative for the Group of Seven (G-7) advanced economies to spearhead the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations aimed at combating illicit financial flows involving cryptocurrencies.

The compellingly worded statement, entitled "An end to the lawless crypto space" was released prior to the commencement of a G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, set to begin on Friday.

Having already deliberated on cryptocurrency regulations during their meeting last weekend, the finance ministers and central bank governors of the group are poised to reaffirm their backing for more stringent global crypto regulations at the upcoming summit.

The FATF has strongly recommended that nations enforce its contentious "travel rule," which mandates crypto service providers to gather and exchange transaction information surpassing a specific threshold. This measure aims to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism through digital assets.

"Around the globe, countries have made progress in implementing most of the standards; however, progress on implementing FATF’s updated requirements on crypto assets has been relatively poor," Kumar said, adding that 73% of countries are still "non-compliant or only partially compliant" with the watchdog's standards.

"Countries need to take urgent action to shut down lawless spaces, which allow criminals, terrorists and rogue states to use crypto assets," Kumar said.

Despite analysts' estimations suggesting that approximately 0.1% to 15.4% of crypto transactions are illicit, the FATF contends that these figures might be significantly underestimated.

G-7 countries taking the lead in "fully and effectively implementing FATF’s global standards is crucial to our collective success," Kumar said.