The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank, has warned against investing in the crypto market following the collapse of the cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA) and Stable Cointelasud (UST).” We have warned against crypto and now look what has happened to the crypto market,” said President Shaktikanta Das.
Governor of RBI on crypto markets and regulation
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das discussed the crypto market downturn and regulation of crypto assets in an interview with CNBC TV18 on Monday.
“We have warned against crypto and look what has happened to the crypto market now,” the governor said, stressing.
Had we already regulated, people would have raised questions about what happened to regulation.
The crypto market has shed more than $1.5 trillion since last November and nearly $500 billion since the beginning of this month. The market slump was exacerbated by declines in the cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA) and Algorithmic Stable Cointegrated (UST).
Regarding cryptocurrencies, Das said:” This is something that has no underlying (value) whatsoever.” He added,
There is a big question as to how it will be regulated. Our position is very clear and remains that it would seriously undermine India’s monetary, financial and macroeconomic stability.
The RBI has also recently warned that crypto could lead to dollarization of the Indian economy.
The Governor believes that the Indian government shares the central bank’s stance on crypto.” We have communicated our position to the government and they will take the call under consideration,” the central bank chief noted. ‘I think the statements and pronouncements coming out of the government are more or less in line with what we have been saying. They are equally concerned.”
Das also said that Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said that Coinbase India was under “unofficial pressure” from the RBI to launch Unified Payments He was asked about his statement claiming that the RBI had disabled payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
“I don’t want to react to speculative observations made by outside individuals,” the governor replied.
The Indian government has been working on cryptocurrency legislation for quite some time. Finance Ministry officials have discussed crypto regulations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in April that a decision on crypto regulation would not be rushed.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency income is currently taxed at 30% in India, and a 1% withholding tax (TDS) will begin taxing crypto transactions in July.
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