The government on Saturday indicated steps against aggressive advertisement on cryptocurrency. The issue was discussed in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“It was strongly felt that attempts to mislead the youth through over-promising & non-transparent advertising should be stopped,” a government source said. It was also felt that unregulated crypto markets cannot be left to become avenues for money laundering and terror financing.

This stance has come at a time when the Centre is preparing a legislation to be introduced during the Winter Session of Parliament.

A joint advertisement by Indian Crypto exchanges and industry bodies said that investment by Indians in Indian assets have crossed ₹6-lakh crore. There are reports, quoting research firm CREBACO, suggesting that the user base has number of crypto investors have crossed 10 crores. Keeping these numbers in mind, meeting chaired by the Prime Minister has become important.

Sources said that Saturday meeting on the way forward for cryptocurrency and related issues was a very comprehensive one. “It was also an outcome of a consultative process as RBI, Finance Ministry, Home Ministry had done an elaborate exercise on it as well as consulted experts from across the country and the world. Global examples and best practices were also looked at,” source said.

According to him, the Government is cognizant of the fact that this is an evolving technology hence the government will keep a close watch and take proactive steps. There was consensus also that the steps taken in this field by the Government will be progressive & forward looking. “Government will continue to pro-actively engage with the experts and other stakeholders. Since the issue cuts across individual countries’ borders, it was felt that it will also require global partnerships and collective strategies,” source said.

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