The former Finance Secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg, discussed crypto with Indian crypto industry leaders including Nischal Shetty, the CEO of Indian crypto exchange WazirX, and Siddharth Sogani, the founder of blockchain research company Crebaco. WazirX was acquired by the Malta-based crypto exchange Binance later last year. Earlier, the financial secretary drafted a bill that proposed a ban on cryptocurrencies along with a 10-year jail term and a fine of up to 25 crore rupees for anyone who engaged with crypto.
The former secretary is not in favor of using crypto as currencies in India.
The former Financial Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg clarified his position on crypto regulations in India during the webinar. The former official said that he approves of the use of cryptocurrencies as regulated commodities but added that they must not be allowed to function as currencies in the country. He went on to say that there is no issue with anyone presenting a “computer code” as a digital asset and with people wanting to invest in it. But crypto is more of a tradable commodity and not a currency, and it should be regulated from the same viewpoint, he opined.
*Mr Subhash Chandra Garg*
"The way cryptocurrency works is on the distributed ledger technology. It's a high investment technology. It can never be a common man's currency. "
— Crypto Kanoon (@cryptokanoon) July 17, 2020
“Blockchain has many cases in the financial landscape.”
Even though the former finance secretary found no logical reason for the existence and use of cryptocurrencies, he showed a strong attraction to distributed ledger technology, stating that it has many promising use cases in the financial landscape. India is currently going through a major financial crisis as the country has become the third worst-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the Supreme Court of India had overturned RBI’s decision to ban banking services to crypto exchanges and users. WazirX’s Nischal Shetty, who has played a role in the fight to get back crypto in India, said crypto assets are essential for pushing forward blockchain innovation citing different examples.
