India's Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) buckled down to work Tuesday and decided to get rid of all forms of cryptocurrencies and instead focus on their own.
The recommendation, all 200 pages of them, was submitted along with a draft bill and has been reviewed by Indian lawmakers. The IMC is composed of the economic affairs secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology, SEBI chairman and deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
"The Committee notes with serious concern the mushrooming of cryptocurrencies almost invariably issued abroad and numerous people in India investing in these cryptocurrencies. All these cryptocurrencies have been created by non-sovereigns and are in this sense entirely private enterprises," the report reads.
10-year jail term
Ultimately, the report concludes that while financial institutions and other banks should be authorized to utilize electronic ledgers, private citizens should not be disallowed from holding or transacting with them. Part of the proposed bill includes criminalizing the acquisition, purchase, or selling of digital assets.
The committee headed by Secretary of Finance Subhash Chandra Garg has proposed a resolution that will "Ban Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019", which has been placed in the public domain.
Hefty fines and 10-year imprisonment will be meted against anyone in India who will be found dealing with virtual currencies of any kind, the report stated.
Open mind
On Twitter, CCN Markets said: "Newsflash: India's Insane Anti-Crypto Bill Proposes 10-Yr Prison Sentence for Bitcoin Adopters!
As anticipated, the report underscored the positive attributes of distributed ledger technology (DLT) or popularly referred to as blockchain, including the different types of potential applications, especially in the financial market.
Although the proposed draft bill prohibits most normal crypto transactions including crypto mining and acquisition, it considers looking into crypto research. IMC is taking a lenient view on launching an official electronic currency in the interest of keeping an open mind on the matter.
Standing committee
"As digital currencies and its underlying technology are still evolving, the committee has proposed that the government may establish a standing committee to revisit the issues addressed in the report as and when required."
In fact, the committee also acknowledges the potential of a decentralized ledger technology, stating that it is "an important and innovative technology, which will play a major role in the digital age."
India's hardline stance on digital money comes two weeks after Facebook's much-ballyhooed Libra received harsh criticisms from the Indian government.
