India (Commonwealth) _ India’s government is moving in the right path by preparing to regulate cryptocurrencies. A consultation document, headed by the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), is being worked on by a panel and is anticipated to be published in September or October of this year.
Stakeholders, corporations, industry professionals, and the general public are invited to provide feedback on this document about the regulation of cryptocurrencies in India. This action is a component of the government’s larger initiatives to decide how the nation will manage digital currencies.
By requesting input, the government hopes to develop regulations that take into account the opinions of many parties and guarantee that cryptocurrency regulation is well-informed and successful.
In October 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared that the G20 countries had come to a consensus about cryptocurrency regulation. Since everyone is now in agreement on the global scale on the possibility of regulations, nation-specific legislative procedures will also need to be worked out.
Accordingly, it will function both internationally and at the macro level, as well as at the level of individual nations and the actions they choose to take,” the speaker stated. Ajay Seth, the secretary of economic affairs, had stated to CNBC-TV18 in September 2023 that the department would carefully review the proposals in light of the consensus they had established and would then determine their policies before taking any action. Seth said that the G20 is aware of the increased dangers that come with cryptocurrencies, especially for developing nations. The G20 talks examined the fundamental elements of successful regulations, designated accountable parties, delineated a provisional timeline, and delineated the regulatory elements that are required. Nine offshore cryptocurrency platforms and Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) service providers were prohibited by India for violating the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering) Act of 2002. The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, was also featured in this. However, after registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit, Binance reconstructed its operations in India in December 2023.
A virtual asset built on a network dispersed among several computers is called a cryptocurrency. Because of its decentralized structure, cryptocurrencies are able to exist independently of centralized governments and other agencies.
The Lok Sabha received the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021. The goal of the law is to establish a supportive environment for the development of a digital currency that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue.
The Cryptocurrency Bill was supposed to be discussed during the Parliament’s winter session in 2021, however that session was canceled. In the Lok Sabha session, the Ministry of Finance was questioned over the Bill, nevertheless.
The following queries were posed: What is the Cryptocurrency Bill’s present state? When will it be submitted for discussion and tabled? Which agency or ministry will oversee virtual assets such as real estate tokens, decentralized apps, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)?
Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State Finance, responded to the inquiries on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, stating that “borderless cryptocurrency assets necessitate international cooperation to avoid regulatory arbitrage.” Therefore, substantial international cooperation in weighing the advantages and disadvantages as well as the development of a common taxonomy and standards is necessary for any law on the issue to be successful. He went on to say that the Ministry of Finance is in charge of the cryptocurrency assets and ecosystem connected to policy.
New cryptocurrency laws were expected to be introduced by the Indian government during the Winter Session of Parliament. The bitcoin law was mentioned for the second time, however it was postponed. It occurred for the first time in 2021 at the Parliamentary Budget Session.
Since its inception, cryptocurrency has been a contentious subject. Some nations accept its decentralized power, while others do not. Each nation has a varied legal position regarding cryptocurrencies.
Worldwide transactions between account holders are conducted anonymously with the usage of cryptocurrency. The governments of many nations are concerned about this in terms of money. Because of its illegal connections and lack of supervision, certain politicians or authorities could not be in favor of the usage of cryptocurrencies.
Certain nations may have implemented measures to reduce the use for these objectives in accordance with their anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism legislation (AML/CFT).
Some countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bolivia, Tunisia and Algeria have already banned crypsocurency in thier ountries and many countries are overlooking the crypsocurrncies before making them an issue for public.
