Crypto regulation Will Take Time: India FM Nirmala Sitharaman
Sitharaman said,
"We recognize that there is a lot of potential and already well-grounded progress made in distributed ledger technologies, '' she added. Therefore, the government does not intend to "hurt these" innovations or to "say that we don't need them."
However, cryptocurrencies can be used for illegal purposes such as money laundering and terrorism financing, so the government needs more time to figure out "how their growth should be fostered and how we would handle them," according to Sitharaman.
"The outside world is impatient, asking, 'What are you doing about crypto?' "I can understand impatience, but I’m sorry, that’s how it’s going to be," she added.
Regulation "will have to take its time" to ensure the government makes a "considered judgment" based on available data, she added, adding that "it can't be rushed through."
Last year, India's cryptocurrency bill, which sought to outlaw all private coins, was on the schedule for the winter parliamentary session but never made it to the floor.