PM Narendra Modi To Take Final Call On Crypto’s Regulatory Framework: Report

On the second day of the virtual Summit for Democracy, Modi urged democracies to come together to formulate global rules for emerging technologies, including social media and cryptocurrencies

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New Delhi: In view of conflicting views among stakeholders on cryptocurrencies, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will take a final decision on the issue, according to financial publication the Economic Times report.

Although the draft bill for cryptocurrencies has been finalised by the finance ministry but certain sections of the government believe more detailed discussions might be required, according to the ET report that cited two persons familiar with the development.

The officials are expected to discuss and come to a final consensus on the bill, the report added. The bill is expected to be tabled in the current session of the Parliament.

The government’s cryptocurrency Bill would ban the use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment in India and seeks to make those who violate the law subject to arrest without a warrant and being held without bail, according to a report by Reuters.  

Individuals or corporations violating the rules set by the government on cryptocurrency may face penalty of up to Rs 20 crore and a jail term of 1.5 years. The government had tabled the Bill during the winter session of Parliament.

Though cryptocurrency will not be recognised as legal tender, all private cryptocurrencies will be regulated and not banned, as was planned earlier. The name of the Bill has also been replaced ‘cryptoasset’ from ‘cryptocurrency’.

Meanwhile, Modi in his speech on the second day of the US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy, urged democracies to come together to formulate global rules for emerging technologies, including social media and cryptocurrencies, so that they strengthen democracy and not harm it.

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," Modi said, according to publication Mint.