In the first-ever Parliamentary panel discussion about Crypto Finance, government officials concluded that cryptocurrency investments cannot be stopped in India, and hence, should be regulated. India’s Standing Committee on Finance led by BJP MP Jayant Sinha met with the crypto community, including representatives from crypto exchanges, industry bodies, and Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) to discuss the concerns of cryptocurrencies in the country. The panel discussed the promotion and regulation of cryptos in India.
According to reports, the 3-hour panel discussion included various crypto and blockchain experts from IIM Ahmedabad to present the current crypto situation in India. Amongst other concerns, the security of investors’ money was the most serious discussion topic during the three-hour session.
“We have called stakeholders from across the 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 the crypto finance,” Jayant Sinha said in a statement prior to the meeting.
Furthermore, the panel discussed the potential of crypto investments in India and the risks related to it. One MP, in fact, pointed out the fact that El Salvadore is the only country in the world to adopt cryptocurrency as a legal tender.
Plus, we already know that there has been a lot of back and forth regarding the adoption of cryptocurrencies in India since 2018 when the RBI banned cryptocurrency-related trades in India. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court lifted the ban on cryptocurrency trading in India last year. Following this, a recent study ranked India second in terms of crypto adoption, with cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu being the most traded cryptos in the country.
So now, the government aims to regulate the cryptocurrency market in India rather than making efforts to ban crypto trading and investments. Although it is currently unclear who or which authoritative body should be the regulator, MPs now want government officials to show up before the committee and discuss their concerns about crypto finance in India. So yeah, we will have more clarity on whether it is legal to buy or sell Bitcoin in India or not soon.
