Cryptocurrency cannot be stopped, but regulation must: Parliamentary panel

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance led by BJP MP and former Union minister Jayant Sinha during a panel meet on Monday (November 15) agreed that although cryptocurrency cannot be stopped in the country, there was a need to regulate it to avoid frauds.

The panel stressed that the security of the money of investors should be the priority of the regulator.

“This is almost like the Ponzi scheme which got strong legal regulations later,” reports quoted members as saying.

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According to reports, one of the MPs also flagged the full-page advertisements on cryptocurrency in national newspapers.

Industry associations and stakeholders, however, failed to arrive at a consensus on who should be the regulator.

This is the first meeting on cryptocurrency to be convened by the standing committee.

The meeting comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting to discuss on the future of crypto-currency in India. Sources privy to the meeting said that government is aware of the evolving technology and is taking proactive steps to ensure that unregulated markets do not end up being avenues for “money laundering and terror financing”.

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It was also felt that attempts to mislead the youth about earning quick bucks through advertisements need to be stopped and that strong regulations are being framed.

The Parliamentary committee’s observations also come amid the multi-crore bitcoin scam in Karnataka that has left the BJP government on a sticky wicket.