India plans law that will ban “all private cryptocurrencies”, with “certain exceptions” – TechCrunch

[ad_1]

India plans to introduce, assess and implement a bill to ban “all private cryptocurrencies” in the country, according to a legislative program for the winter session.

The Indian government said Tuesday evening that the bill would allow “certain exceptions” to promote the underlying cryptocurrency technology and its applications.

The bill – called the Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 – will also create a “facilitative framework” for the creation of the official digital currency for the country, the legislative program adds.

It should be noted that the bill’s description is the same as New Delhi listed for the previous parliamentary session earlier this year. The winter session of parliament begins on November 29.

Indian lawmakers have been discussing the risks of cryptocurrency trading for several quarters and are testing a central government-backed digital currency.

A growing number of Indians, many of whom have never invested in the stock market or any other asset class, have started trading cryptocurrencies in recent quarters, sparking fears among some of losing their money.

Local cryptocurrency exchanges have reported growing transaction volumes and user bases this year and have raised record capital from top investors. CoinDCX, backed by B Capital, and CoinSwitch Kuber, backed by a16z and Coinbase Ventures, have become unicorns this year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other lawmakers as well as several industry stakeholders have held several meetings over the past quarters to discuss the cryptocurrency space and some of the recent developments.

At least one senior Indian minister recently had conversations with a prominent venture capitalist and suggested that India is likely to formulate a law that will support innovation following China’s decision to ban trade and commerce. cryptocurrency mining, according to a source directly familiar with the matter.

In the meantime, many lawmakers have also expressed concerns about the nature of the advertisements served by cryptocurrency exchanges. There was consensus at that meeting that these “irresponsible ads,” which promised huge profits to consumers by investing in crypto, are misleading the country’s youth and must be stopped, TechCrunch reported earlier. .

Several Bollywood stars, including legendary Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Ranveer Singh, who have starred in several of the country’s biggest blockbusters, have promoted the cryptocurrency trade in TV commercials and in newspapers.

Lawmakers have also expressed concerns about the potential misuse of crypto trading vehicles to launder money and finance terrorist efforts.

Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Central Reserve Bank of India, said last week that the country needs to have much more in-depth discussions on the issue of cryptocurrencies.

“When the central bank says we have serious concerns from the perspective of macroeconomic and financial stability, much deeper issues are involved,” Das said at an event. “I have yet to see serious and informed discussions in the public space on these issues.”

[ad_2]