G20 leaders haven’t announced plans to impose digital currencies and IDs worldwide

By: Umme Kulsum
September 27 2023

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Posts are circulating on social media claiming that G20 leaders have announced plans to impose digital currencies across the world. (Source: X/TikTok/Modified by Logically Facts)

What’s the claim?

The 2023 G20 summit, a two-day conference hosted under India’s presidency, was held recently in New Delhi from September 9 to September 10, 2023. The summit was a gathering of 20 leaders of the world's largest economies and a forum for discussing the global economy.

After the conclusion of this summit, claims have gone viral on social media that at this meeting, G20 leaders agreed on a plan to impose digital currencies and digital IDs in their respective nations. 

The claim stems from an article published on September 15, 2023, by The Epoch Times, a website notorious for sharing misinformation (archived here). The same story was also published by the website The People’s Voice, formerly known as NewsPunch, and Daily Sceptic, another website known for peddling misinformation. These articles have been archived here and here.

The claim has been widely shared on X and TikTok, with many expressing concerns about the consequences or implications of the imposition of digital currencies and IDs. Archives of such posts can be seen here, here, and here.

Screenshots of posts on X sharing the claim. (Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is false. No such announcement was made during the summit.

What was discussed at the G20 summit?

During the 2023 G20 summit, the G20 leaders adopted a unified declaration called the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, which addressed various topics. This includes digital public infrastructure, gender equality, money laundering, and financial sector reforms for strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive global growth. However, there were no announcements about implementing or imposing digital currencies or IDs globally.

There were talks and discussions about developing Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), a digital form of government-issued currency.

Under the section "Central Bank Digital Currency" (page 26), the declaration stated, “We welcome discussions on the potential macro-financial implications arising from the introduction and adoption of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), notably on cross-border payments as well as on the international monetary and financial system. We welcome the BIS Innovation Hub (BISIH) Report on Lessons Learnt on CBDCs and look forward to the IMF Report on Potential macro-financial implications of widespread adoption of CBDCs to advance the discussion on this issue.”

Ahead of the summit, on September 7, 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) released a paper on advanced policy and regulatory recommendations to identify and respond to macroeconomic and financial stability risks associated with crypto-assets. This paper was presented at the G20 summit, with leaders suggesting a timely implementation of these recommendations.

Although there were discussions about the effects of digital currencies, there was no announcement about their implementation globally or among G20 member countries.

Logically Facts has debunked several claims by The Epoch Times, Daily Sceptic, and The People’s Voice. You can read them here, here, and here.

Digital currencies have long been the subject of various conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns, claiming that governments or powerful entities are behind the creation of digital currencies intended to gain control over and surveil people’s financial transactions. Such theories are also linked to the “New World Order” conspiracy theory, which hypothesizes that an elite group of individuals is working in the shadows to implement a totalitarian world government.

 The verdict

There was no announcement about imposing digital currency and introducing digital IDs worldwide at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.