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A member of the upper house of the Indian parliament has given the crypto community some advice on what can be done to influence the government’s crypto decisions. He encourages anyone to reach out to him and discuss their concerns, including issues related to the draft bill to ban cryptocurrencies in India. His words and suggestions have given the crypto community hope.
Indian Member of Parliament (MP) Rajeev Chandrasekhar has given the crypto community some advice in Tuesday’s episode of the Blockworks Group’s Untold Stories podcast. He discussed various crypto-related topics, ranging from the Indian government’s policies and the draft bill to ban cryptocurrencies to the banking restrictions by the central bank and the supreme court hearing. The MP is scheduled to meet with some members of the Indian crypto community next week.
During the podcast, the MP was asked about the report and draft bill to ban cryptocurrencies, submitted by an interministerial committee headed by former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Subhash Chandra Garg. The question came from Nischal Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, who was a guest on the podcast. He informed the MP that this bill proposes a ban on cryptocurrencies in India without involving or consulting any industry experts. “Can we expect industry participation to make the report more positive, and better for our crypto ecosystem in India?” the CEO asked the MP.
“Those of you, who have a view on crypto and believe that there is sufficient room, in the public policy space, for the policies to evolve and be inclusive of innovation, and at the same time, address the security and other concerns. They should just reach out to me,” Chandrasekhar replied.
Chandrasekhar Asked RBI to Develop Framework
The Rajya Sabha MP has previously urged the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to develop a framework to handle new innovations and trends. In December 2016, he wrote a letter to the late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, detailing some issues he expected to emerge as the government and the RBI moved to increasingly digitize the Indian economy. Particularly, he suggested that the banking and payments ecosystem would need to be transformed.
Citing a surge in domestic bitcoin trade, a “move of black economy to the dark internet,” and how “The surveillance and policing requirements are challenging,” he wrote: I suspect the government and RBI are ill-equipped currently to deal with this … I am drawing your attention to the need to be ahead of the curve on this rather than behind and so the RBI must develop the capabilities on this urgently."
However, the duo did not create any framework. The RBI and the Ministry of Finance independently dealt with the rising interest in cryptocurrencies by issuing several warnings to the public about the risks associated with them. When interest did not wane, the central bank issued a circular, banning regulated financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. The ban went into effect in July last year, and banks subsequently closed the accounts of crypto exchanges, forcing some of them out of business.
Chandrasekhar shared his thoughts on why the RBI decided to issue a banking ban instead of setting up a framework to deal with crypto assets. He asserted that there are two ways of addressing a problem in any governmental system. One is to stay ahead of the curve, which he said is hard for a government to do, while the other is to shut down the threat. While maintaining that he himself does not want “innovation to be trampled by a paranoid approach to regulation,” the MP acknowledged that the RBI has chosen this path.
During last month’s supreme court hearing of the writ petitions against the RBI ban, the court gave the central bank two weeks to answer the representation filed by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) regarding measures crypto exchanges could take. The hearing is scheduled to resume on Sept. 25.
If you want positive crypto regulation in India, support "India wants crypto" social media campaign by Nishchal Shetty, CEO of Wazirx Exchange.
