Indian Government to Make More Changes to Crypto Bill

According to reports, the Indian government is making further changes to the crypto bill, which is listed in the current session of the lower house of parliament. There is a possibility that the bill might actually be taken up in the budget session. There is also a possibility that the government may consider introducing a special order or an ordinance after the session. The government of Indian had come up with the crypto bill that was titled ‘Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021’. There has been a lot of uproar over the bill, even though its full content is not publicly known. 

A senior government official disclosed that the Indian government is thinking of reworking the bill and it is more likely that it will be introduced in February when the budget session takes place. The unnamed official said that they were still having discussions and they are once more looking into key issues, such as how private cryptocurrencies are to be treated, global practices, and the rationale of regulation. All cryptocurrencies that are not issued by the central bank are regarded as ‘private cryptocurrencies’ by the Indian government, which includes bitcoin and ether. Furthermore, it had also been reported on Wednesday that the government plans on making some other changes to the bill.

It was said that the Indian government wants the crypto regulation in the country to be in tandem with the global framework, but do not want to rush the process. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of the country, said that the crypto bill has to be reworked before it can be submitted to the cabinet. As per the legislative agenda of the lower house of India’s parliament, which is known as Lok Sabha, the current bill aims to prohibit all private crypto in the country, but there were to be some exceptions for promoting the underlying technology of crypto and its applications. 

No details have been provided by the government regarding the bill, but there have been reports that they plan on regulating crypto-assets and the primary regulator is expected to be the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Moreover, the government is also planning to impose a ban on the use of crypto for payments. They will also establish a deadline for investors for complying with the new regulations that involve declaring their assets. Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has also been involved in developing the crypto legislation in the country.

He has headed a number of high-level meetings related to cryptocurrency and will also take the final decision when it comes to the regulation in India. While attending the summit for democracy last week by the US President Joe Biden, the premier said that crypto should be used for empowering democracy, rather than undermining it. His twitter account was also hacked subsequently and a tweet was posted claiming that bitcoin had been adopted as legal tender in the country and they had bought 500 BTC for distributing amongst the citizens.