Crypto Bill Unlikely To Be Tabled In Parliament During Winter Session, No Cabinet Approval Yet: Report

The Cabinet hasn’t approved the proposed legislation, and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is looking to have wider consultations on the matter before finalising the rules

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New Delhi: It seems that the wait on the regulatory framework around cryptocurrency will get longer as the much-awaited Cryptocurrency Bill is not likely to be presented in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. The Centre may not table the bill in this session as it has not yet finalised the details of its legislation, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday.

Why is the bill likely to be deferred?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is looking to have wider consultations on the matter before finalising the rules to govern digital currencies and there isn’t enough time as the current session ends December 23, according to Bloomberg sources.

Also, the Cabinet hasn’t approved the proposed legislation.

In fact, going by the schedule for the last week of the Parliament session the cryptocurrency bill has been dropped from the list of businesses shared on its website. However, the government can still bring in the law through an ordinance at times when Parliament is not in session.

The bill aims to help the central bank create an official digital currency, a description on the parliament’s website mentioned in October.

The legislation sought to “prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses,” the text read.

Meanwhile, prices of mainstream and meme coins declined on Monday at 5:00 pm, according to the data of Coinmarketcap.com.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) was down 2.01 percent in the last 24 hours and was trading at $46,107.44 at 5:00 pm IST. Bitcoin’s dominance in the crypto market is currently at 40.58 percent, up 0.19 percent in the last 24 hours.