Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman addressed concerns about the new cryptocurrency Bill to be
tabled in Parliament in course of the winter session that went underway in
November 29. The Bill on Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital
Currency is part of Lok Sabha Bulletin-Part II.

Sitharaman said in
the Rajya Sabha Tuesday that the risk of cryptocurrency and it going in the
wrong hands is being monitored. The finance minister’s comments on
cryptocurrency come only a day after she categorically stated that the Indian
government has no plans to recognise Bitcoin as currency.

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The Cryptocurrency
and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill seeks to create a facilitative
framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the
Reserve Bank of India.

Further, the new
Bill also seeks impose a ban on all private cryptocurrencies. The minister told
the Rajya Sabha that the proposed legislation is likely to be introduced soon.

Upon being
enquired about an earlier cryptocurrency regulation Bill that was scheduled to
be tabled in the monsoon session, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The
earlier attempt was definitely to come up with a Bill that the House can
consider. But, later, because rapidly a lot of things had come into play, we
had started working on a new Bill.”

Also Read | India mulls ban on private crypto: What it means for investors

“This is the Bill
that is now being proposed,” Sitharaman said adding that the government had
made a “genuine attempt” to bring the Bill before the Parliament even in the
previous session.

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On a question
about whether the government is considering a ban on cryptocurrency advertisements,
the finance minister said that the guidelines of the Advertising Standards
Council of India are being studies and their regulations are being looked into “so
that we can take, if necessary, some kind of position or a decision on how we
can handle it”.

She further said
that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Bank of
India (SEBI) are taking steps to make people aware of the risks of
cryptocurrency.