The government today said a bill on cryptocurrency is under finalisation for consideration of the Cabinet. Answering a query on the increasing impact of cryptocurrency in the country and whether it’ll affect the economy, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance said the RBI had cautioned users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies (VCs) on December 24, 2013, February 01, 2017, and December 05, 2017.
In its public notices, the RBI had said that dealing in virtual currencies can lead to economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security-related risks. “Further, RBI has also raised concerns on the de-stabilising effect of cryptocurrency on the monetary and fiscal stability of a country,” the minister said.
He said to examine the issue of virtual currency, the government has constituted “an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC)”, which submitted its report in 2019. The IMC report was further examined, following which a bill on the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency is under final consideration of the Cabinet, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week had urged democracies to come together to formulate global rules for emerging technologies, including social media and cryptocurrencies.
As democracies, “we must also jointly shape global norms for emerging technologies like social media and cryptocurrencies, so that they are used to empower democracy, not to undermine it,” the PM said.
The Centre is aiming to introduce a bill on cryptocurrencies in the Parliament after Cabinet’s approval. The current bill is a new bill on crypto, which will be presented in the Parliament after the Cabinet nod, Sitharaman said.
Also read: Centre to introduce new crypto bill in Parliament after Cabinet nod: FM Sitharaman
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