According to the finance minister, India may not be ready to follow El Salvador’s lead, but don’t rule out cryptocurrency.
India should not avoid an improving technology like cryptocurrency, but India may not yet be ready to adopt Bitcoin as El Salvador did, according to India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Finance Minister expressed his thoughts about El Salvador becoming the first nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender on September 7.
Now, Sitharaman cited the protests in El Salvador against Bitcoin as an example and said that they show that people care about the currencies adopted in a country.
The leader highlighted that people thinking that other people don’t care about digital currency is normal behavior. But they must consider the fact that these ordinary people took to the streets against the measure.
The minister also said that It is not a question of literacy or understanding. It is also about what extent it is a transparent currency.
As countries have been considering various ways to regulate cryptocurrencies and release their own central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects, India has moved more slowly in space.
Despite the discussions that took effect in 2017, the country still has to take a clear stance on the legal status of cryptocurrencies.
The Contradictions in India
As Sitharaman expresses, the government has already consulted with various stakeholders, including the Reserve Bank of India, which has repeatedly called for a set of prohibitions on cryptocurrencies, especially for payments.
A new committee recapitulated the stance that the 2017 committee established. This committee recommended a blanket ban to penalties that included jail time for a diverse set of infractions.
Sitharaman repeated that the crypto bill is currently waiting for approval from the union cabinet before it gets access to parliament.
Forkast says that while the bills are supposed to get released for public consultation, the government has been very hermetic about the details of the crypto bill.
Neither the content nor the main essence of the bill has seen the light of day yet. It is also unknown if it is going to ban cryptocurrencies or regulate them.
Despite the current regulatory uncertainty, Sitharaman said that India could not afford to ignore cryptocurrencies entirely. The minister highlighted that this is not an era where people should remain silent regarding their environment.
Sitharaman said that India might not be ready to follow the path of El Salvador until they make sure that this futuristic approach becomes a consolidated fact.
India must be Cautious with CBDC
Regarding India and the possibility to create its own CBDC, Sitharaman highlighted that the country must make a cautious and calculated decision.
Last month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said India could release its first CBDC test project in December. The central bank is currently developing a phased CBDC implementation strategy. The governor also stated that the RBI is careful with the CBDC project, which is the first of its kind for their central bank.
By: Jenson Nuñez
