Crypto bill listed in Lok Sabha business old one; new bill to be presented soon: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament today clarified that the crypto bill listed in Lok Sabha business is an old bill, and that a new cryptocurrency bill will be presented in front of Cabinet soon.

“Bill mentioned is an old bill and new bill is being worked at and will be presented in front of Cabinet soon,” she said during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

She said that the last time there was a bill proposed on cryptocurrency, but subsequently, there were other dimensions, which at that time the government thought were important to bring in the bill. "That bill has been reworked. So, the intent was to either prove the bill or come up with a proposal that is going to be far more recent. Now we are coming out with a new one. The earlier attempt was also to come up with a bill. But, later a lot of things had to come into play, so we started working on a new bill. Once the Cabinet clears it, it'll come here in the House," the minister added.

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Notably, last week it was reported that the government will bring in the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, in the Winter Session of Parliament starting November 29. This led to heavy selling on crypto exchanges in India, crashing the value of some of the biggest cryptocurrencies by up to 15 per cent.

As per the contents of the crypto bill listed in Lok Sabha business, it aims "to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses." It also said the bill will also allow a framework for "the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India".

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The FM also said the government has not taken any decision on banning the advertisements of cryptocurrencies in India. "This is a risky area and not in a complete regulatory framework. No decision was taken on banning its advisements. Steps are taken to create awareness through RBI & SEBI. The government will soon introduce a Bill," Sitharaman said during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.

"About the misleading advertisements that we are banning them, there are some Advertisement Standard Council of India guidelines that are being studied, and regulations that they are being looked into, so we can take some kind of position to say how we are going handle this," she said.

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