New Delhi: In a clear signal of the government's intent to discourage private cryptocurrencies in the country, the Centre on Monday clarified in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament, that it has no plan to boost the cryptocurrency sector in the country. In response to a question, the government clarified that it would table a Bill to regulate cryptocurrency in the country in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.
In response to a question by Jagdambika Pal, a BJP member and former Union minister, Pankaj Chaudhary, the minister of state in the ministry of finance clarified in the Lok Sabha that neither the government has taken any steps to promote cryptocurrencies in the country nor has it any plans to do so in future.
A categorical no from the government follows three crucial developments last month that made the government and the RBI's intent clear with regard to cryptocurrencies.
On November 11, Reserve Bank Governor Shakti Kanta Das sounded an alarm over the unregulated trading of cryptocurrencies in the country and called for a serious discussion to formulate a policy.
Two days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on November 13. Following the meeting, the government sources made it clear that it would crack down on the misleading advertisements that promote buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in the country.
In the meeting, officials also expressed concerns against potential misuse of cryptocurrency in terror funding and money laundering.
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As if that was not enough, while addressing the Sydney Dialogue hosted by Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the democracies to work together to ensure that cryptocurrencies did not spoil youth.
“Take crypto-currency or bitcoin for example. It is important that all democratic nations work together on this and ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands, which can spoil our youth," Prime Minister Modi said on November 18.
It was the first public statement by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that revealed his government's thinking on cryptocurrencies.
These developments came at a time when cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin were scaling all-time records as the combined market valuation of cryptocurrencies surpassed $3 trillion on November 9.