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Govt likely to table cryptocurrency bill in winter session of Parliament

The central government is likely to introduce a bill on cryptocurrencies during the winter session of Parliament beginning November 29, amid concerns over such currencies being allegedly used for luring investors with misleading claims and for funding terror activities, PTI reported.

Currently, there are no particular regulations or any ban on use of crypto currencies in the country. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, held a meeting on crypto currencies with senior officials and indications are that strong regulatory steps could be taken to deal with the issue.

According to sources, the proposed bill would focus on investor protection as crypto currencies come under a complex asset class category. Once cleared by the Union Cabinet, the government plans to introduce the bill on crypto currencies in the first week of the winter session.

In August, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she was awaiting an approval from the Cabinet on the crypto currency bill. Both the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have raised concerns about crypto currencies in recent months. The three-week long winter session is scheduled to be held from November 29 to December 23.

On Monday, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance discussed the pros and cons of crypto finance with various stakeholders, and several members were in favour of regulating crypto currency exchanges rather than an outright ban on such currencies, according to sources.

At the meeting convened by the prime minister on Saturday, it was strongly felt that attempts to mislead the youth through over-promising and non-transparent advertising of crypto currencies should be stopped.

An inter-ministerial panel on crypto currency under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Economic Affairs) had recommended that all currencies except those issued by the state should be banned.