Edited excerpts of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s views on the regulation of crypto currency.

Q. Your government has been against the crypto currency as it believes that it is not a stable asset. RBI is on the same page. SEBI is believed to have represented to the panel on crypto regulation that it should have multiple regulators. What is the situation?

Even before G20 and since 2020, we had discussions about it in the Finance Ministry. RBI is also having its own view on it. We are very clear that there should be global understanding on how to regulate crypto.

During G20 under India’s Presidency, we spoke about it. We brought IMF and FSB. Well-written papers were submitted. A lot of discussion took place. I would like to go through the route of global understanding when everybody is on the same page.

Bringing a regulation just within one country without a global understanding on a technology that does not brook any borders is not going to help.

On crypto currency, no single country would succeed even if intends to.

Q. Is there some confusion among regulators where one is against crypto while the other talks about regulation…

No, these are opinions, no harm in that. We have not yet reached a stage where we are saying yes this is what we want to do. At that stage, if there are differences among regulators then that would be a matter of concern. We are nowhere near that situation.

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Published on May 20, 2024