India’s minister of state for external affairs says that cryptocurrencies must be blocked if they are used for illegal purposes, such as “to launch cyber-attacks in India, to launch other attacks on India, to do other kinds of illegal and unethical work like drug trafficking.” Meanwhile, the Indian government is reportedly making changes to the crypto bill that is listed to be taken up in the current session of parliament.
Indian Minister for External Affairs, Cryptocurrency and Crypto Regulation
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi has reportedly stressed that cryptocurrencies need to be blocked if they are used for illegal means to harm India’s sovereignty and integrity.
Lekhi is also India’s current minister of state for culture. In May 2014, she was elected from Bharatiya Janata Party to the 16th Lok Sabha. In May 2019, her 17th Lok Sabha election was won again.
Lekhi said these words at last week’s sixth Global Technology Summit. It was jointly hosted by Carnegie India and Ministry of External Affairs.
It is possible for cryptocurrency to be used in cyberattacks against India or to carry out other illegal, unethical activities like drug trafficking. I must stop that.
“I am sure the finance ministry and IT ministry would have looked deeply into these aspects,” she added.
The minister continued: “The cryptocurrency platforms and exchanges are owned by a set of people who are trying to avoid tax, taking the money out of the country without giving benefit to the country where they produce this wealth.”
Meanwhile, the Indian government is reportedly making some changes to the cryptocurrency bill that is listed to be taken up in the current session of Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired several meetings in India on cryptocurrency legislation and is expected to make a decision about crypto regulation. Recently, he stated that crypto should not be used to undermine democracy but rather empower it.
Recently, reports have indicated that government officials are planning to restrict crypto assets and ban the use cryptocurrency for payment. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has expressed major concern about cryptocurrency at the most recent meeting of its central board. They stated that all cryptocurrency should be banned.
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