The Indian government will introduce ‘The Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ in the winter session of Parliament. The bill seeks to create a facilitative framework for creation of official digital currency to be issued by RBI & ban all private cryptocurrencies in India, reports ANI. 

The cryptocurrency bill will be among 29 other bills which will be introduced in the winter session which will start from November 29. According to the government, the objective of the bill is to “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.”

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The Bill will also ban all private cryptocurrencies in India but may allow for certain exceptions to allow for innovation in the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses. 

The announcement about the Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 comes a week after the a Parliamentary panel convened a discussion on the broad contours of crypto finance. The panel, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Jayant Sinha, reached a consensus that while cryptocurrency cannot be stopped, it must be regulated. 

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Sinha also met representatives of crypto exchanges, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), industry bodies and other stakeholders on November 16. 

The Indian government has been mulling ways to regulate cryptocurrency for some time now. RBI, India’s central bank, as well as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have voiced concerns about the unregulated growth of cryptocurrencies in India and have called on the government to keep vulnerable retail investors in mind. 

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting earlier this month to discuss the steps that can be taken to regulate digital currencies. During the meeting, concerns regarding the use of cryptocurrency in money laundering and terror financing also surfaced. 

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RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das spoke about the central bank’s perspective on cryptocurrency at an event on Wednesday where he said, “On crypto…we have serious concerns from the point of view of macroeconomic and financial stability. How the issue has to be dealt with — we have given our detailed suggestions to the government; as far as I know, the matter is under the active consideration of the government.”