No blanket crypto ban for India: finance minister

Fears of a comprehensive crackdown on crypto in India appear to be unfounded.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told CNBC on Saturday that reports of an impending blanket ban on crypto are overstated, adding that ongoing negotiations are likely to yield a more measured outcome.

Bloomberg reported last month that a senior Indian official said the government was planning to ban all crypto activity. This is not the case, assured Sitharaman: “Yes, a lot of negotiations, discussions are happening, with Reserve Bank. Obviously the Reserve Bank will be taking a quorum on how, what kind of unofficial currency, cryptocurrency will have to be planned, and how it has to be regulated.

“But also, we want to make sure that there’s a window available for all kinds of experiments which will have to take place in the crypto world.”

She stressed that the new regulations will not be as “severe” as reports have suggested and that officials will “look inward” and take a “very calibrated” approach, unlike the “mixed messages coming in from across the world.”