Today in Rajya Sabha the crypto bill was discussed at 9.48 AM.

Here is the transcript.

Minister K.C. Krishnamurthy: There is no doubt that the problem in Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies is escalating and the circular published by the RBI has also limited impact. I would also like to know from the Finance minister whether there is any proposal to bring in an appeal to curb cryptocurrencies in the country.

To which Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs replied, regulatory bodies like RBI and SEBI etc also do not have a regulatory framework to directly regulate cryptocurrencies as they are neither currencies nor assets or securities or commodities issued by the identifiable users.

The existing laws are inadequate to deal with the subject. The Government has formed an inter ministerial committee and the committee has given a report. Post that, there was a meeting of the empowered technology group which happened earlier as well as the committee of secretaries which was chaired by the cabinet secretary has also given their report.

The bill is being finalised and would be sent to the cabinet soon. We will be bringing the bill also.

Another minister joined the discussion and said that this issue impacts Gujarat a lot, specially Surat. On one hand through RBI, the government tried to curb cryptocurrencies by disallowing banks to be used as a medium of exchange. The Supreme court of India overturned the decision, which means people can buy and sell Bitcoin in India using banks as a medium of exchange.

And now, the minister Anurag Singh Thakur in reply to the question said that the government is coming with a bill. If you believe in Supreme court and you think the decision was not justified, was any review petition filed?

To which Anurag Singh Thakur replied: Globally if you see there are many definitions of cryptocurrencies or the virtual cryptocurrencies adopted by international bodies. GOI and RBI took initiative and banned the use of private cryptocurrencies. As the member rightly said, there was an order from the Supreme Court (to overturn RBI’s decision). That is why Government of India took decision to form an inter ministerial committee and the committee also gave its reports. And as I earlier said, the committee of secretaries also met under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary and they have given their report.

Government has prepared the bill and will be introduced in the parliament soon and we can have a detailed discussion on that.

Soon, after this Nischal Shetty, the founder of WazirX tweeted the video and he is hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will let India participate in the crypto.

Here is his tweet

 

Later Cryptokanoon Tweeted their version of the discussion, which can be found here.

 

What do you think about the crypto bill? Do you think India is going to ban it? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.

Update: There is a new bill announced that discusses how you will be taxes on your crypto gains. Read about it here.