PM Modi Chairs Crypto Meet, Says Stop Misleading Ads

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a crucial meeting on the way forward for cryptocurrency and related issues, according to news agency ANI.

The meeting comes days after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das cautioned investors against cryptocurrencies. He said the crypto market was a cause for concern to the central bank from the perspective of macroeconomic and financial stability.

The meeting was a comprehensive one and there were also discussions regarding how to stop non-transparent and over-promising advertisements that mislead young investors, ANI said in a tweet.

ANI’s Twitter thread further said that the meeting chaired by PM Modi was also an outcome of a consultative process as RBI, the finance ministry and the home ministry had done an elaborate exercise on it as well as consulted the experts from across the country and the world.

It was also discussed that unregulated crypto markets cannot become avenues for money laundering and terror financing, said ANI’s tweet.

The government also plans to “keep a close watch and take proactive steps” on this “evolving technology”, according to ANI. The meeting reportedly reached a consensus that the steps taken in the field of cryptocurrency and related issues will be forward-looking.

It was also felt that the issue is a global one and “cuts across individual countries’ borders”, which is why “global partnerships and collective strategies” are required.

It may be noted that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is expected to host a conference with crypto stakeholders on November 15, according to a notice by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. An official notice informing concerned parties about this meeting listed it as a “Hearing of views of Associations/Industry experts on the subject ‘CryptoFinance: Opportunities and Challenges’.”

Soon after the news was out, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted out, “Bitcoin Scam is big. But Bitcoin Scam Cover-up is much bigger. Because it has to cover up someone’s fake big ego.”