Security News > 2022 > February > India's Reserve Bank deputy governor calls for crypto ban

The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, T Rabi Sankar, has delivered an extremely unflattering assessment of cryptocurrencies - worse than Ponzi schemes, wreckers of economies, and richly deserving of a ban within India.

Speaking at the Indian Banks' Association's 17th Annual Banking Technology Conference, Sankar argued that cryptocurrencies are poorly named, as unlike fiat currencies they "Do not have an issuer, they are not an instrument of debt, nor commodities, nor do they have any intrinsic value."

The deputy governor eventually settled on a definition of cryptocurrencies: "Very much like a speculative or gambling contract working like a Ponzi scheme."

Bans of cryptocurrencies may therefore look like an overreaction in some nations, but in India are advisable and even necessary.

The deputy governor's remarks are at odds with current Indian policy, announced earlier this month, that calls for a tax on cryptocurrency transactions and another - at double the rate of India's capital gains tax - on profits generated by trading in cryptocurrency.

Sankar suggested those currently invested in cryptocurrency could be provided with a "Reasonable exit" to cushion then from any losses if a ban were imposed.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/02/16/india_cryptocurrency_ban_call/