• Thursday, March 28, 2024

Business

Modi holds meet on cryptocurrency concerns

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi (ANI Photo)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi has presided over a meeting to speak over the future of cryptocurrencies, sources told Reuters on Saturday (13), amid reports that the government is mulling modifying a bill that would have imposed a ban.

“It was strongly felt that attempts to mislead the youth through over-promising and non-transparent advertising be stopped,” the news outlet quoted a government source as saying.

ALSO READ: RSS chief urges Modi govt to regulate platforms, cryptocurrency

“It was also discussed that unregulated crypto markets cannot be let to become avenues for money laundering and terror financing,” it added.

CoinDCX becomes India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn

In March, the Indian government said it was considering a ban on cryptocurrencies with fines for anyone who trade in the country or hold such digital assets. Since then, it has held a consultation process involving the country’s central bank – the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the finance and home ministries and international experts.

Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the RBI who got an extension recently, said this week that cryptocurrencies are a serious concern from the point of view of macro-economic and financial stability.

Reuters cited reports saying a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies that stops short of a complete ban will come up in the winter session of the Indian parliament, starting later in November.

India’s digital currency market was worth $6.6 billion (£4.9 billion) in May 2021, compared with $923 million (£688 million) in April 2020, according to blockchain data platform Chainalysis.

Related Stories

Loading