Nothing outlaws crypto as long as you follow the legal process, says MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said there is no problem with cryptocurrencies in India if all laws are followed, in remarks contradicting the position of the Project Bank. Reserve India advises investors to stay away from cryptocurrencies.
India has been trying to regulate electronic moneywith a central bank vice-governor even calling for a ban on them, but the government has yet to be able to craft legislation.
In the final budget, the government established a tax bracket for cryptocurrencies, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at World Economic Forum last year that a collective global effort was needed to solve the problems caused by digital currencies.
Grassroots IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, speaking at an event in the southern city of Bengaluru, said: “There is nothing today that outlaws cryptocurrencies as long as you follow the regulatory process.”
In February 2022, the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), T. Rabi Sankar, said cryptocurrencies are like Ponzi scheme or worse and banning them is the most sensible option for India.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also said in February that the cryptocurrency lacks the fundamental value of even a tulip.
Last month, Das urge to ban cryptocurrencies, calling crypto trading “100% speculative.” The governor of RBI warned that the next financial crisis could be triggered by private cryptocurrencies, if such speculative tools are allowed to flourish. “Cryptocurrencies… have huge inherent risks from financial stability and macroeconomics (perspective) and we have shown that,” Das said.
Unauthorized use of cryptocurrency report hit a record $20.1 billion (nearly Rs 1,63,217) last year. According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, transactions involving sanctioned entities increased more than 100,000 times by 2022 and accounted for 44% of illegal activity last year.
