Indian Finance Minister Pushes for International Cooperation on Crypto Regulation — Discusses Awareness Campaign

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed the importance of international cooperation in order to regulate the crypto sector. She also confirmed that Indian regulators’ crypto awareness campaign will continue to alert people about the risks of investing in crypto.

India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, answered some questions about crypto during a press conference on Monday. She said:

In India, crypto is on the agenda of G20. This is because we think technology-driven crypto asset creation and buying and selling of assets in the crypto world will have to have international cooperation.

“The reason is they can be anywhere but operated in India or they can be in India but operated somewhere else,” the Indian finance chief added.

Sitharaman also addressed the issue of young Indians, particularly students, putting their pocket money into risky crypto assets with the hope of generating bigger returns.

“In the matter of concern for youngsters going into it which you raised, we have both regulators and national security deposit centers which have also done a lot of campaigning. And this campaign continues every now and then to alert people that it is a high-risk area and they should be aware of it,” she detailed. Indian regulators launched a crypto awareness campaign in January. The finance minister noted that the government aims to educate people about crypto and make them aware of the potential risks involved.

Regarding the cryptocurrency bill that the government has been working on for quite some time, the finance minister said:

With regard to the bill, discussion continues and when there is some update, we will let you know.

Sitharaman recently revealed that India is having detailed discussions about how to regulate crypto with members of the G20 so that a standard operating protocol (SOP) can be established. The government plans to introduce measures around crypto this year, an official said earlier this month. Meanwhile, the government has imposed new crypto tax penalties.

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