‘We’re taking a prudent decision on crypto regulation’: Sitharaman

Denying any hastiness in regularising the virtual currencies, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that only a “prudent decision” will be taken on it. 

“It (crypto regulation) will have to take its time … all of us to be sure that at least with a given available information, we’re taking a prudent decision and can’t be done hastily,” the Finance Minister said during an interaction at Stanford University.

She also asserted that the country will a considerate decision without stifling innovation. 

The Finance Minister also expressed concerns over the misuse of non-regulated cryptocurrencies like bitcoins saying that these can be manipulated for illegal activities like money laundering or terror funding. 

“These are some of the concerns, not just India, but many countries of the world have and are also discussed in global, multilateral platforms,” she added. 

At the same time, she clarified that the government is open to promote innovation and well-grounded progress made in the distributed ledger technologies, which are coming in the blockchain. “So, our intention is in no way to hurt this (innovation around crypto)...but (we need to) define for ourselves,” Sitharaman further added. 

Earlier, during her Annual Budget 2022-23 speech, she had announced a 30% tax on virtual digital assets such as cryptocurrency. This tax has come into effect from April 1.