Cryptocurrency regulation in India: Parliamentary panel to hold meeting with industry experts, stakeholders
Representatives from crypto exchanges, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), industry bodies and other stakeholders will make their submissions on crypto finance on Monday before a parliamentary panel headed by BJP leader Jayant Sinha.
This will be the first meeting on the subject to be convened by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which has generated great interest and concerns from various quarters regarding investment potential and risks.
The panel headed by Sinha, who is also a former minister of state for finance, will also collect inputs from academics from IIM Ahmedabad.
The panel meeting in the afternoon assumes significance as it comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the issue of cryptocurrency with officials from various ministries and RBI.
Talking about the meeting, Sinha, the chairman of the panel, said that the meeting on crypto finance will discuss the opportunities and challenges that this rapidly evolving industry presents to regulators and policy makers.
“We have called upon stakeholders from the entire industry including operators of major exchanges, members of CII as well as academics from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, who have done a very thorough study on crypto finance,” Sinha told PTI.
He further added that the panel has also convened representatives of the India Internet and Mobile Association of India, among which the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), an exclusive body that deals with cryptofinance players.
“We will hear from them about their thoughts on the right regulatory framework for this industry as it continues to grow and evolve,” he said.
In early March 2020, the Supreme Court struck down an RBI circular banning cryptocurrencies. Subsequently, on February 5, 2021, the central bank constituted an internal panel to suggest a model for the central bank’s digital currency.
The RBI had announced its intention to come up with an official digital currency due to the proliferation of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which the central bank had many concerns about.
Private digital currencies/virtual currencies/cryptocurrencies have gained popularity over the past decade. Here, regulators and governments are skeptical about these currencies and are apprehensive about the associated risks.
It may be noted that on March 4, 2021, the Supreme Court set aside the RBI circular dated April 6, 2018, barring banks and entities regulated by it from providing services in respect of virtual currencies.
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