India’s Prime Minister: Crypto Could Land in The Wrong Hands if it’s Not Regulated

Narendra Modi – the Prime Minister of India – urged democratic countries to work together and design a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

Without it, the asset class can be employed unlawfully and can even spoil the younger generations, he added.

Regulations Are Necessary

In a recent appearance at the Sydney Dialogue, India’s leader highlighted the importance of implementing regulatory policies in the digital asset industry. He opined that the process should include nations with democratic visions such as India, Australia, and others in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. They need to establish a mutual collaboration and act together.

Modi’s comments were mainly focused on bitcoin. He assumed that many criminals would continue using the primary cryptocurrency in their illicit activities without the necessary legislation. On top of it, the lack of rules can also “spoil our youth.”

“We are at a historic moment of choice whether all the wonderful powers of technology of our age will be instruments of cooperation or conflict,” India’s PM concluded in his speech.

The world’s second most populated nation is reportedly on its way to imposing such regulations by February 2022. The Indian government even started contemplating treating cryptocurrencies as an asset class.

This comes as a U-turn since earlier this year, the authorities planned to force a total ban on bitcoin and the altcoins. Furthermore, they wanted to pass a bill according to which cryptocurrency custody, mining, and trading would become a criminal act.

India May Launch Its CBDC Next Year

A coverage by Reuters revealed that the central bank digital currency of the Asian country might see the light of day in the first quarter of 2022. P. Vasudevan – Chief Manager at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – said:

“I think somewhere it was said that at least by the first quarter of next year a pilot could be launched. So we are bullish on that.”

Earlier this year, Shaktikanta Das – Governor of the RBI – raised hopes that India could begin trials for its CBDC by the end of the ongoing year.

However, Vasudevan said that designing such a financial product is not an easy task, and there should be no hurry to launch it:

“We are on the job, and we are looking into the various issues and nuances related to CBDC. It’s not a simple thing to just say that CBDC can be a habit from tomorrow on.”

Featured Image Courtesy of PMIndia