In a recently published interview, India's financial secretary, T.V. Somanathan, told Outlook magazine that a cryptocurrency ban could still be on the table.
He also said that taxing cryptocurrencies will not necessarily make them regulated, reiterating the clarification provided by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman:
Should cryptocurrency be banned, regulated or remain unregulated and not banned?—all possibilities are open. It can be banned, it can be regulated or it can be left neither regulated nor banned but taxed.
Earlier this week, Sitharaman announced a 30% levy on cryptocurrency assets in a move that many erroneously interpreted as legalizing crypto.
Somanathan says that the government rushed to implement a tax regime for cryptocurrencies in order to avoid a slew of disputes caused by uncertainly related to the taxability of the nascent asset class.
With close to 1.4 billion people, India boasts one of the biggest cryptocurrency communities, but regulatory uncertainty remains a major concern for investors.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a ban on cryptocurrency transactions back in 2018, but it was then lifted by the Supreme Court in March 2020.
In November, a bill prohibiting mining and holding private cryptocurrencies appeared on the government's legislative agenda. However, the controversial legislation was dropped shortly after that, with local media reporting that the country's securities watchdog would be responsible for regulating digital assets.
As reported by U.Today, India's long-anticipated crypto bill would not be introduced during the parliament session as lawmakers continue having discussions with stakeholders regarding its content.
Arman Shirinyan
