No crypto ban in India: Finance Minister predicts “very calibrated” stance

No blanket ban on the horizon, with an open “window” for experimentation in India, says Nirmala Sitharaman.

Yet another “crypto ban” turns out to be temporary FUD.

In an interview with CNBC this morning, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that reports of a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies are overstated. While negotiations are ongoing, she said she expects the end result to be more tempered:

“Yes, a lot of negotiations, discussions are happening, with Reserve Bank,” said Sitharaman. “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 went on to say that regulations won’t be as “severe” as have been previously reported. Authorities will “look inward” and take a “very calibrated” stance, in contrast to the “mixed messages coming in from across the world.”

“The world is moving fast with technology. We can’t pretend that we don’t want it. […] I can only give you this clue: that we are not closing our minds, we are certainly looking at ways in which experimentations can happen in the digital world, in cryptocurrency and so on.”

Finance Minister @nsitharaman says “Govt. wants to ensure there’s a window for experiments in cryptocurrency space”. ⁰Time for India to innovate and shine!@FinMinIndia pic.twitter.com/fbSH2hzTC4

— BlockchainedIndia (@blockchainedind) March 6, 2021

The comments from Sitharaman is no doubt a source of relief for crypto businesses, users, and hodlers in the world’s second most populous country. Earlier this month, a report from Bloomberg citing a senior Indian financial minister said that the country would be banning all cryptocurrencies. 

The hypothetical ban drew widespread criticism from across the crypto community, with some likening it to an attempt to ban the Internet. Some companies found the reports to be hot air, however, and continued on with developments apace.