Govt To Launch Awareness Campaign On Crypto Assets And Online Gaming

Amid rising concerns over crypto assets and online gaming, the government is planning to launch an awareness campaign for these two sectors. The Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF), which falls under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, will launch an outreach campaign.

The campaigns will highlight the legal status of cryptocurrencies and online gaming platforms, ET reported. Further, through these campaigns, the government aims to educate people about the investment risks associated with such assets and platforms.

Despite the crypto market crash and steps undertaken by the government to discourage the asset class, many small and retail investors in India are investing in cryptocurrencies.

“The campaign will highlight that cryptocurrencies are not legal in India and there are also deep risks involved in such assets. Any investments where the people are being promised lucrative and assured returns, there is an element of high risk,” a government official said as quoted in the report.

As shared by the official, the lawmakers have also observed that the gaming platforms are offering products that may be construed as gambling. More importantly, such platforms are even being advertised as ways to make extra money.

Incidentally, the IPEF usually conducts awareness campaigns on investments in public markets. This is the first instance where it is planning to conduct a campaign on digital assets. Now, IPEF is also targeting various asset classes and covering all sorts of Ponzi schemes.

Throughout this year, the crypto and online gaming sector have been under stringent scrutiny. The government is also looking at building a regulatory framework for these two sectors. For example, India’s long-pending crypto policy is currently with the finance ministry and will be finalised after international collaboration and risk evaluation.

“Crypto assets are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage. Therefore, any legislation on the subject can be effective only with significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards,” the Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary informed Lok Sabha in a written reply last week.

Meanwhile, the Centre has decided to come up with a proper policy or a new law on online gaming. Recently, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting with the Information Technology ministers of all the states, who were concerned over the effect of online gaming.