Plenty Of Unhealthy Speculation Going On Around Crypto: Finance Minister

Hinting at the uncertainty-led notions around the cryptocurrency bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today (December 4th, 2021) said that there is a lot of speculation going on in the matter which is not healthy at all.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, she said that a “well consulted” bill is coming through and it will be tabled in the parliament, once the cabinet clears it.

“There is a lot of speculation…that’s not healthy at all,” the Finance Minister said.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 is scheduled to be tabled in the parliament during its ongoing winter session.

The government is likely to propose recognition of cryptocurrency as an asset and prohibit its usage as a currency.

Citing sources, an NDTV report recently said that the much awaited cryptocurrency will propose to bring crypto assets under the regulation of capital markets regulator SEBI.

The news brought a sigh of relief for several stakeholders as uncertainty and apprehensions have been prevailing over whether the government would ban cryptocurrencies in the country.

The concerns were fueled as the description of the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, showed that it “seeks 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 also seeks to create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

Earlier this week, the  finance ministry informed the parliament that the government does not collect data on cryptocurrency transactions, and there is also no ready information on tax collected from investments made in the virtual asset.

She had also said that the guidelines of Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI) are being studied regarding “misleading” advertisements by crypto exchanges and the regulations are all being looked into so that if necessary the government can take a decision on handling the advertisements.

Concerns Over Likely Blanket Ban

The possibility of a likely ban on cryptocurrencies created a lot of uncertainty and raised concerns among stakeholders, apart from a panic in the crypto markets.

The Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) on November 25th said that a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies will encourage non-state players and lead to higher unlawful usage of such currencies.

Growing Crypto Market

India has more than one crore crypto investors, and the number is significantly growing every day, with several domestic and global crypto exchanges operating in the country.

The investment in cryptocurrencies grew from nearly $923 Mn in April last year to $6.6 Bn in May this year in India. According to a report released in August by blockchain data platform Chainalysis, India ranks second out of 154 nations in terms of cryptocurrency adoption.