The Standing Parliamentary Finance Committee met with cryptocurrency stakeholders on Monday to explore the opportunities and challenges of funding crypto, two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on its regulation.
Bharatiya Janata Party Committee Chairman and Member of Parliament Jayant Sinha said he personally supports the balance between innovation and regulation in crypto.
Sinha told TBEN TV18 that the committee has yet to provide an opinion on the cryptocurrency.
“The MPs wanted to understand what is happening in the industry landscape and what the challenges and opportunities are in crypto finance. Cryptocurrency has an impact on monetary policy and fiscal stability. It should not be used for illicit trade or terrorist financing. It is important to balance innovation and regulation, ”he said
Citing crypto exchange representatives who attended the meeting, Sinha said various exchanges together have 15 million KYC-approved users, with an investment value of $ 6 billion.
A member of the opposition committee said there was no consensus yet on the way forward.
“First of all, the government has to decide what it wants to do; they have to come up with some kind of guidance document, which they can ask the standing committee to review, ”he said.
“The question is, how do you legalize 8,000 to 9,000 headless chickens running on the Internet? To legalize cryptocurrencies would be to legalize social media trolls, ”he said on condition of anonymity.
It is still unclear whether the cryptocurrency bill will be tabled in the next winter session of Parliament, a person familiar with the discussions said on condition of anonymity.
According to this person, the meeting was mostly exploratory, and its “look and feel” allayed fears of a blanket cryptocurrency ban.
A bill on the Lok Sabha’s agenda ahead of the February session had suggested that such a ban could be in the works. The same rumor has been spread since then, although the tide seems to be turning in favor of crypto firms since the monsoon session of Parliament.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said ahead of the February session that the government would take a “calibrated” approach to cryptocurrencies.
Crypto exchanges and industry associations have also suggested regulating the industry instead of banning it.
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