Panel moots ban on ‘risky, volatile’ private cryptocurrencies

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial panel has recommended banning of private cryptocurrencies due to the risks linked to them and volatility in their prices and called for imposing stringent fines and penalties for carrying on any activities connected with cryptocurrencies in India.
The committee has recommended a law banning cryptocurrencies in India and criminalising carrying on of any activities connected with them in India. This virtually signals the end of the road for private cryptocurrencies in India.
The draft bill ‘Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019,’ proposes stringent fines of up to Rs 25 crore and jail terms of up to 10 years for anyone who “directly or indirectly mines, generates, holds, sells, deals in, transfers, disposes of or issues cryptocurrency”.