Tag: cryptocurrency bill

Tax on crypto: Where things stand on regulation of virtual assets in India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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For the longest time, the crypto community in India was in the dark when it came to the classification and taxation of cryptocurrencies. However, this changed when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2022-23 Budget Speech, announced a 30 percent tax on all “virtual digital assets” including non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She also announced a 1 percent tax deducted at source (TDS) on the purchase of cryptocurrencies.

While the new tax laws mean that crypto assets are legal in India, there is still a pending regulatory bill that could change things once it is introduced. This bill has been titled ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ and according to the Lok Sabha website, it will be introduced “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India.”

Although this may sound worrying, the bill is still a work in progress and the newly introduced tax laws indicate a positive outlook from the government in regard to digital assets.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Consultative paper on cryptocurrency likely to be ready in few months: sources

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The consultative paper on cryptocurrency is likely to be ready in a few months, government sources told CNBC-TV18, adding that the Centre has received views of institutional stakeholders on the matter.

For the consultative paper, comments have been received from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Financial Stability Board (FSB), and World Bank, according to the sources, who added that private stablecoins are also under discussion.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies backed by real-world assets such as commodities, fiat currency (issued by the government), gold, or other cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins are digital assets that have a stable valuation like a fiat currency but also provide utility and mobility of a cryptocurrency. Put simply, they can be seen as the bridge between a volatile cryptocurrency and a stable fiat currency.

The government is trying to firm up its views on cryptocurrency assets. In February, the Supreme Court had asked the Central government to clarify if cryptocurrencies are legal or not in the country.

The country has not made its stand clear on the legality of cryptocurrencies although a 30 percent tax was levied on gains made through such assets during Budget 2022. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later made it clear that taxing gains made via digital assets does not make cryptocurrencies legal tender and that the government is still working on a Bill on cryptocurrencies.

The sources said that the government is looking at a global approach on cryptocurrency and doesn’t want to rush in. The matter may be taken up in the next G-20 meeting.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Budget 2022 exclusive: Top highlights from FM Sitharaman’s interview to Network18

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Speaking about the Narendra Modi government’s growth vision, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday decoded the Budget 2022 in an exclusive conversation with Network18’s Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi.

This comes a day after she presented the Union Budget in Parliament on February 1. In her Budget 2022 speech the Finance Minister said India is in a strong position to withstand challenges in the upcoming fiscal. She added that complimenting the macroeconomic growth is the focus of the Budget.

Here are the important highlights from her interview:

Also Read: Growth target at 8% achievable; hopeful of pickup in private investment

• GDP Growth: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured that the target to achieve 8 percent GDP growth in the next fiscal is achievable. Sitharaman’s remark came against the backdrop of the Economic Survey 2021-22 which has projected India’s growth for the financial year 2023 at 8-8.5 percent.
• Tax Regime: Nirmala Sitharaman defended the move of leaving tax slabs and rates unchanged and said tax stability and predictability are crucial at this point in time. “Any exemption given goes to those who need it but also by law goes to someone who doesn’t need it. So we considered stability and predictability was more important,” she said.
• Crypto Bill: Responding to a question on whether the government is looking to table a bill to regulate cryptocurrency, the Finance Minister said there is no clarity at the moment, adding consultations will determine what kind of Crypto Asset Bill we put together.
• Digital Currency: The Finance Minister said the Reserve Bank of India will launch the digital currency (CBDC) sooner rather than later. “Once it goes through Parliament, RBI will move forward to take cabinet approval,” she added.
• Air India: Sitharaman noted that Air India was a complex subject and it took a lot of working together with people to keep transparency at every stage.
• LIC IPO: The Finance Minister said that the disinvestment of the government’s stake in the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will happen in the current financial year.
• Inflation: The Finance Minister said that all economies across the globe are worried about inflation, adding that it does affect financial planning. India too is conscious of inflation, she said.
• Capex Boost: The Finance Minister in Union Budget 2022 announced a 35.4 percent increase in capital expenditure to Rs 7.50 lakh crore for FY23 from Rs 5.54 lakh crore for FY22. She said that after the disruption caused by COVID-19, the government has scaled up infrastructure spend and wanted to continue the momentum in the new fiscal.
• Elections: Nirmala Sitharaman said elections come and go but the economy required strong support as it was showing positive signs of revival. She added that there was no doubt in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mind that the Budget would be growth-focussed.

Also Read: FM Sitharaman backs no change in income tax rates

Also Read – Interview snapshots: Tax regime stability important; digital currency launch soon and more

For full coverage of Union Budget 2022, click here.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

‘I just bought the dip but it keeps dipping’: Twitter abuzz amid crypto crash

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Social media was abuzz with memes as the cryptocurrency market recorded a dramatic fall on Friday. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency as per the market cap, fell over 15 percent to trade below $36,000, its lowest since July 2021. After almost touching the $52,000 mark on December 27, 2021, the crypto had been trading around the levels of $38,000-50,000. Bitcoin was last trading at the level around $35,350. Since touching its highest level of $70,000 in November 2021, Bitcoin has crashed nearly 50 percent.

The fall was similar for another major crypto coin, Ethereum, that plunged over 20 percent to trade below $2,500.

The trade did not show any sign of improvement on Saturday as well. Another popular crypto, Dogecoin dropped to its lowest point in the last nine months and was trading around the level of $0.13 on Saturday.

The latest crypto fall comes a day after reports of Russian government’s plans to ban use and mining of cryptocurrencies and the rejection Bitcoin ETF from Skybridge by the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA, reported the Street.

Investors and netizens took to Twitter to talk about #bitcoincrash and #cryptocrash. While some users suggested to cautious about the dip and advised to hold, there were others who thought that cryptocurrencies were dying.

crypto is dying, retweet to make it die faster #cryptocrash pic.twitter.com/kr1ANHEWi4

— Cutbug🌹@ Shin Megami Tensei V (@KungFuCutbug) January 21, 2022

Don‘t fall for the dip…just hodl #BitcoinCrash #cryptocrash #crypto #ethereum pic.twitter.com/zVWLJUBElT

— Gordon Lacombe (@GordonLacombeCo) January 22, 2022

A user said that though the market is falling, it will soon bounce back. He advised investors to hold and not panic sell in heavy losses.

Don’t panic sell you will regret selling in a few days
#cryptocrash#BitcoinCrash #BTC pic.twitter.com/W8xULLYIzk

— Karmendra Choudhary (@karmendra01) January 21, 2022

“I just bought the dip but it keeps dipping,” read another Tweet on the topic.

Check other reactions here:

Didn’t see it coming 🤣🤣 #BitcoinCrash #bitcoin #cryptocurrencies pic.twitter.com/RHTEaKmWmP

— Seyi #Polymath 💙 (@heswaikcrypt) January 21, 2022

#BitcoinCrash #cryptocrash #BTCs

Crypto Investors right now. pic.twitter.com/VPWkleKSfi

— Ahmad Sadat Nawfal (@sadat_nawfal) January 22, 2022

Newbies in the crypto world 🤣#cryptocrash #BitcoinCrash pic.twitter.com/Dmf0YCWodh

— Arpit Apoorva (@arpit_apoorva) January 21, 2022

When the crypto market is dumping, but you refuse to sell anything. #Bitcoin #BitcoinCrash pic.twitter.com/ilFrQnAEEL

— Alt Crypto Mars 🔶 (@altcryptomars) January 21, 2022

Though the crypto market has been known for its volatility, the recent trend of sharp falls has been a point of concern for retail investors. In June last year, when China announced a complete ban on Crypto trading and mining in the province of Sichuan as part of its largely regulatory plans, the market suffered a massive collapse wiping a large share of the capital.

The reports of Indian government’s law to regulate crypto had also created similar panic in the market in December 2021.

Also read: Explained: Why Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptos crashed Friday

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How banks are joining the crypto bandwagon, albeit reluctantly

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cryptocurrencies may have become commonplace in investment-related discussions, but the digital currencies have been struggling to gain acceptance from central banks and financial regulators in many countries.

In India, for instance, the use of cryptos has been stiffly opposed by the Reserve Bank. In fact, in 2018, the RBI disallowed banks from dealing with crypto exchanges. This meant that crypto investors faced hurdles in funding their crypto wallets via bank accounts or transferring crypto-related funds to their bank accounts. The ban was set aside in 2020 by the Supreme Court.

However, recent global developments in the banking industry suggest the tide may be turning. The crypto market has exploded with both the number of users and cryptos growing exponentially. Over 22 crore people used cryptocurrencies globally, per a July report by Crypto.com. As these digital assets rapidly gain popularity, some banks that earlier warned customers against investing in cryptos are now looking for ways to help educate them and even provide crypto-related services.

Also read: Russia proposes ban on use and mining of cryptocurrencies

Jamie Dimon, head of the largest US bank JP Morgan Chase, has been among the most vocal critic of bitcoin, even calling it ‘worthless’ in October last year. This was despite reports suggesting the bank had, just months before, started giving its wealth management clients access to six crypto funds. Earlier in May, when his bank was in negotiations with crypto firms to offer such funds, Dimon had said he still didn’t support bitcoin. But he conceded that “clients are interested, and I don’t tell clients what to do,” per a CNBC report.

The growing demand from clients is one of the major reasons why banks are now reluctantly offering crypto-related services. According to a report by American Banker released on January 20, customers of about 300 community banks in the US will soon let customers buy and sell bitcoin via their internet banking mobile apps. Bankers who are part of the initiative hope that offering crypto services will help them benefits from the digital assets’ popularity.

Also read: Explained | Crypto exchanges: Centralised, decentralised, or hybrid; where to trade?

Brad Scrivner, CEO of Vast Bank, a part of the group rolling out this service, believes the crypto banking launch is already a success. Scrivner said the bank has seen nearly five times its “historical retail customer base” in the past few months.

The race to join the crypto bandwagon has also led to some interesting deals in the crypto-banking space. On January 19, a 286-year-old German bank, Bankhaus von der Heydt, was bought by BXM Operations AG, founded by crypto exchange BitMEX’s CEO Alexander Höptner and CFO Stephan Lutz. The deal, according to BitMEX, will allow the two corporations to build a ‘regulated crypto powerhouse’ that offers a diverse range of regulated crypto products in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, per reports.

BitMEX, a P2P exchange headquartered in Seychelles, allows investors to access global financial markets using bitcoin. Earlier this year, BitMEX launched a brokerage service in Switzerland by hiring Ivo Sauter as their new CEO. Ivo will lead their expansion in the region and plans to capitalise on the potential of cryptocurrencies in Switzerland.

While both parties have signed the purchase agreement, it is yet to be approved by BaFin, the German banking and financial services regulator. According to reports, the regulator’s approval is expected to come by mid-March.

Also read: Bitcoin or crude oil; what will outperform in the next decade?

A similar deal had been sealed in November last year. Only in that deal, a bank had bought majority stake in a crypto exchange. Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), backed by investments from king Maha Vajiralongkorn, had acquired a 51 percent stake in the country’s biggest crypto exchange Bitkub for 17.85 billion Thai baht (roughly Rs 4,000 crore at the time).

Announcing the acquisition, SCB CEO Arthit Nanthawittaya had said the Bitkub buy will help the bank “create new value that can grow in the long term” and that the Group wants to get into the cryptocurrency vertical in order to “meet the new needs of consumers” and enter “a new competitive field that is coming up very quickly in the next 3-5 years”.

Such deals hint at how rapidly the worlds of banking and cryptos are merging and bankers who had been busy bashing cryptos are also now playing catch-up. According to a report by the New York Times, Bank of America’s chief operating officer Thomas Montag, who ridiculed bitcoin for years, is now taking tutorials on cryptocurrencies. Montag reportedly spent hours listening to lectures, reading books and meeting executives from cryptocurrency businesses.

Also read: 2022 crypto trends: These 10 altcoins may steal the limelight this year

In fact, research by analytics company Blockdata published in August pointed out that 13 of the world’s largest banks have invested roughly $3 billion so far into cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.

Nearly 55 percent of the world’s 100 biggest banks by assets under management are now invested directly or indirectly in companies and projects related to digital currencies and blockchain, the report stated.

As Thomas Olsen, a partner at Bain & Company who advises financial firms on cryptocurrencies and other digital asset matters, pointed out to the New York Times, “Most people agree that in the future — it might be 10 or 20 or years or it might be sooner — effectively all assets are going to be in a digital format.”

Also read: Official digital currency will kill cryptocurrency: Ex-finance secretary SC Garg

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Crypto Scams: What the industry is doing to educate users, prevent fraud

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cryptocurrencies have found millions of early adopters in India, and the number of people jumping on the crypto bandwagon is increasing exponentially every day. But not all investors fully realise the risks involved in the highly volatile crypto market.

With no central resource for credible crypto-related information and no legal recourse in the absence of regulations, these investors might attract scamsters and hackers waiting to trap gullible investors.

Over the last two years, several websites running crypto scams have cropped up and millions of Indians have been duped of their hard-earned money after visiting these sites. In fact, according to recent research by blockchain data platform, Chainalysis, Indians visited crypto scam websites more than 17.8 million times in 2020. While the number of visits reportedly fell sharply in 2021 (to around 9.6 million times) there is still a lot of cause for concern.

Also read: Crypto scams: Five ways to identify legit crypto coins

Chainalysis also released the names of the top five crypto scam websites visited by Indians–coinpayu.com, adbtc.top, hackertyper.net, dualmine.com, and coingain.app. Roughly 4.6 million Indians visited these sites in 2021 alone.

The problem with these websites is the sheer number of them prevalent on the internet. If one is taken down, another one pops up to take its place. To make things worse, these scamsters also use varying modus operandi. They can dupe investors through email scams, phishing scams, or giveaway scams, and that is just scratching the surface of the different scams that are just a click away on the internet.

In fact, just earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) uncovered a scam that led investors in Kerala to a fake cryptocurrency known as Morris Coin. The alleged scam duped victims of their hard-earned money to the tune of Rs 36.72 crore.

Also read: Online crypto scams: Vigilantes help root out online frauds

Many of these scams also target users on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram by sending users texts about fake offers and giveaways. Unsuspecting investors click on these messages getting duped in the process.

But the good news Is that various entities in the Indian crypto industry are taking charge and starting to implement measures to safeguard investors against such scams. Multiple initiatives are being undertaken to educate investors about these scams.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), for instance, formed the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) in 2021 to spread awareness about crypto and the various scams involved in this space and to run advocacy operations. The BACC has also been working with the biggest exchanges to mitigate the problem of scams through clear messaging with the public.

Coinswitch Kuber, one of the most popular apps for trading cryptocurrencies, released the ‘Riskometer’ last month to educate users about new coins in the market. The Riskometer gives out a risk warning for highly volatile coins or when the company thinks the users need to be warned about a particular coin before investing. Crypto unicorns in the country like CoinDCX have also stated that they are dedicating substantial resources to combat the problem of scams in the industry.

Also read: 2021 recap: Biggest crypto scams of the year

WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty pointed out that it is time for India to upgrade the financial literacy for the 21st Century. “Cryptocurrencies, in particular, should be a crucial part of the financial literacy programmes,” he told the Economic Times.

As part of its effort to help prevent frauds, WazirX complies with BACC’s self-regulatory code of conduct under the IAMAI in absence of regulatory guidelines.

With a cryptocurrency bill expected to be presented in the Budget 2022 session in February, crypto may soon become a lot safer in India. However, the onus of safety on the internet still falls heavily on individual investors. One should only make well-informed investment decisions and practice due diligence when trading in crypto, or any other form of investment for that matter.

Also read: Explained: How Kim Kardashian reared up in a crypto scam

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Torus Kling Blockchain to launch India’s first cryptocurrency, Ethereum ETF

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Torus Kling Blockchain IFSC, a 50:50 joint venture between Cosmea Financial Holdings (CFH) and Kling Trading India, has inked an agreement with India INX to launch the first ethereum and bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in India.

Torus Kling Blockchain is targeting $1 billion in assets under management (AUM) in the first two years from customers participating in blockchain-backed products through ETFs, and discount certificates tracking the metaverse-related large-cap stocks in the US and European markets. Discount certificates are debentures that can be used to buy an underlying security at a discount to the current market price. These instruments have pre-fixed price caps, and this limits potential upside.

Torus Kling Blockchain IFSC plans to launch the ETF in Gift City by the end of the financial year, subject to IFSCA and other regulatory approvals.

Also read: Elon Musk stokes Dogecoin once more, says Tesla merchandise can be bought with the memecoin

Cosmea, established in 2020, is a financial services startup promoted by former Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh, while Kling Trading India is an SaaS cloud services company that provides services in treasury, risk, trade finance using AI and Machine Learning. India INX is India’s first international exchange in International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). The deal will make it the first crypto-backed futures ETF outside the US.

The deal dictates the various roles the entities involved with ETF will be playing. Cosmea will oversee distribution, and Kling will be the technological partner. INX India will be the exclusive trading platform for the crypto-backed ETF. Torus Kling blockchain will provide liquidity to India INX through smart order routing.

“New asset class is tip of the iceberg. Exchange trade products allow trading through regular investment accounts, bypassing the hassle and security concerns of cryptocurrency exchanges”, said Krishna Mohan Meenavalli, CEO, Torus Kling Blockchain IFSC.

Also read: Do cryptocurrency prices affect the value of NFTs? Let us find out

The ETF futures are going to launch under the sandbox construct of the IFSC, with the product being subjected to all IFSC regulatory approvals.

V Balasubramaniam, Managing Director & CEO at India INX, said in a statement, “India INX at GIFT IFSC is looking at exploring the launch of Digital Asset-based products and has already made an application to IFSCA under Regulatory Sandbox. This is a part of our product innovation initiative to benchmark offerings with other international financial centres. We will be launching products in these new-age assets in compliance with the prevailing laws after receiving all required post regulatory approvals.”

As per an Economic Times article, In India, AUM in ETFs in India has almost doubled to Rs 2.9 lakh crore in FY21 from Rs 1.5 lakh crore a year previously. Also, Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) have acquired more than $1 trillion representing 15 percent of all fund assets globally.

Also read: Bitcoin stares at Death Cross, what does it mean?

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why crypto Bill is unlikely to be taken in winter session of Parliament

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Among the several important bills being tabled this winter session in the Parliament, one which could have had wide implications was the proposed Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021. But it seems unlikely the bill will be brought to the floor at least in the current session.

According to the Lok Sabha website, the Bill was to be introduced “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.”

The Bill will also “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India,” the bulletin had added.

Why is the cryptocurrency Bill not being introduced?

The government is deferring introducing the cryptocurrency Bill to obtain more feedback and bring a bill that is more in line with international standards, sources told CNBC-TV18.

“The government wants to see how global standards on cryptocurrencies evolve in the EU and other jurisdictions,” sources said.

As it gathers wider consultations for their proposed Bill, the Centre found itself short of time to bring a reworked Bill in Parliament as the winter session ends on December 23.

The parliamentary panel on cryptocurrency had, in November, sought feedback from representatives of crypto exchanges, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), industry bodies, and other stakeholders in cryptofinance. The panel under BJP’s Jayant Sinha concluded that cryptocurrencies need urgent regulation but not an outright ban.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met with senior officials last month to discuss the possible regulatory steps needed for cryptocurrency and related assets. PM Modi had also asked for nations to work together to prevent the misuse of cryptocurrencies and emerging technologies and added that cryptocurrencies should “empower” democracies and not threaten them.

The Union Cabinet has not yet given its approval to the Bill, even though it was reported that the proposed Bill was discussed nearly a week ago. Now the Bill has been dropped from the list of the schedule for the last working days of Parliament in the current session.

What will happen now? 

As the government deliberates further on its proposed Bill and the Bill will not be enacted into law by Parliament in the current session, this does not prevent the Centre from issuing an ordinance or a special order so that some regulations governing cryptocurrencies are in place in the interim period.

The government can also take up the matter in a few months when Parliament returns to the Budget session. With the urgent need for bringing regulations in the rapidly developing space and the RBI’s strong stance against private virtual currencies, it is unlikely that the government will wait for long before introducing the Bill in parliament.

Read Also | Gita Gopinath on crypto regulation: Outright ban difficult; global rules needed

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Cryptocurrency bill won’t be introduced in winter session, say sources

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The cryptocurrency bill will not be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, government sources told CNBC-TV18 on Monday. The government is gathering feedback on international regulations for the cryptocurrency sector, people in the know said.

“The government wants to see how global standards on cryptocurrencies evolve in the EU and other jurisdictions,” the sources said. Meanwhile, the government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are consulting the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) about the evolving cryptocurrency framework.

The development comes almost a month after the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, was listed in the government’s legislative business of the winter session. The bill seeks to prohibit all private cryptos and create a framework for the official digital currency to be issued by RBI.

Also Read: Crypto investors: HODLer or trader—which one are you?

Earlier in November, the first-ever parliamentary panel on cryptocurrencies led by BJP MP and former Union Minister Jayant Sinha gathered views from the representatives of crypto exchanges, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), industry bodies, and other stakeholders on crypto finance.

However, according to sources, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is unlikely to hold another meeting on cryptos unless the bill is introduced in the house, sources said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for united efforts to shape global norms for emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies so that they are used to “empower” democracy and not to “undermine” it. Prior to this, Modi had in November too urged democratic nations to work together to ensure that the cryptocurrency does not end up in the wrong hands.

Also Read: What Federal Reserve’s hawkish tilt means for Bitcoin

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das too earlier this month had reiterated his views against allowing cryptocurrencies, saying they are a serious threat to any financial system since they are unregulated by central banks.

Meanwhile, Gita Gopinath, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in an interview with CNBC-TV18 last week said, there is a need for urgent global standards on how to deal with cryptocurrency. She, however, said an outright ban will be difficult to execute.

Also Read: World invested $30 bn in crypto in 2021; more than all previous years combined: Report

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Gita Gopinath on crypto regulation: Outright ban difficult; global rules needed

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cryptocurrency is not a global threat as of now and an outright ban on the asset class would be difficult to execute, Gita Gopinath, the chief of International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday.

“We (IMF) think it is really not appropriate to make any of these cryptocurrencies legal tender that would be a simple no-no,” Gopinath said. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, she said global standards for regulations for cryptocurrency were required.

“If you are going to go into payment systems, you have to make sure you regulate them well … we should just make sure this problem doesn’t get ahead of the regulatory environment that needs to be put in place,” she added.

Gopinath said there is a need for urgent global standards on how to deal with cryptocurrency and that an outright ban will be difficult to execute. “Different countries are approaching the problem depending upon the tools they have. Our general view is an outright ban can be difficult to implement,” she said.

Also Read | Budget should remain accommodative; under-implementation must be prevented: IMF’s Gita Gopinath

Most cryptocurrency exchanges, she said, are offshore so a “single country placing a ban on these kinds of activities may not be that effective.”

Gopinath’s comments come as India is set to ban private cryptocurrencies in the Winter session of Parliament. The cryptocurrency bill, which was listed in the government’s legislative business of the Winter session, seeks to prohibit all private cryptos and create a framework for the creation of the digital rupee. Though news agency PTI reported Wednesday that government is unlikely to bring the crypto bill in the ongoing session.

Earlier on Wednesday, addressing an event organised by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) on Wednesday, she said, “There are challenges to banning it whether you can end up with truly banning crypto because many exchanges are offshore and they are not subject to regulations of a particular country.”

Also Read | Gita Gopinath: US Fed action unlikely to disrupt markets; inflation remains headwind

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow