The Indian government is focused on deciding clear regulations for trading of cryptocurrencies and a policy framework is expected once the current committee submits its report, Ajeet Khurana, head, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee (BACC) of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), said over the phone on Friday.
While India does not yet have clear regulations on cryptocurrencies and exchanges, the govt has maintained that virtual currencies are not held as legal payment instruments in the country, but the Finance Minister did not say that cryptocurrencies were illegal. Cryptocurrency exchanges would argue that neither are gold, stocks, and bonds considered as legal tender. Still, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement in his Union Budget 2018 speech on Thursday were widely interpreted as a ban on the trading of cryptocurrencies.
“It is very wise that the government plans to not take any knee-jerk action on the exchanges. We are very happy with the measured, graduated and wise steps the government is taking,” Khurana, who took on the BACC role last month, said.