Within a week of RBI governor Shaktikanta Das reiterating his concerns over cryptocurrencies, the government of India has started serious discussions on the matter.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance held its first meeting with cryptocurrency stakeholders on Monday. The meeting was attended by representatives of crypto exchanges, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), industry bodies and other stakeholders.
The meeting comes ahead of the likely introduction of cryptocurrency bill during the winter session of the parliament.
A couple of days before the PSC meet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with officials from various ministries and RBI on the issue of cryptocurrency, according to media reports. The discussion is said to have revolved around misleading advertisements and future course of action on cryptocurrencies.
On Wednesday, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that cryptocurrencies are a very serious concern from a macro economic and financial stability point of view.
"Cryptocurrencies are a serious concern to RBI form a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint. The government is actively looking at the issue and will decide on it. But as a central banker, we have serious concerns about it and we have flagged it many times," Das said at the Business Standard-BFSI Summit.
The issue of cryptocurrency investment in India has become a serious one recently as many exchanges roped in celebrities to drive investment in cryptocurrencies. Several investors have taken to social media recently raising concerns over the practice.
