Crypto Regulations 1 of 8 Top Priorities Under India's G20 Presidency: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Sitharaman stated that crypto regulation was in India's national interest since the trail of transactions is hard to track

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India was 'moving speedily forward' with digital financial technology as India gears up to assume the G20 presidency following a handover from Indonesia in December.

"No one single country can succeed individually, in a silo and trying to regulate the crypto assets. We need all the G20 members to come onboard to see how best it can be done," said Sitharaman at the ICRIER's 14^th annual international G20 conference.

Sitharaman called for global collaboration on cryptocurrencies as she stated the risks crypto posed for financial stability. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prohibited banks from offering services to crypto companies in 2018, a ban that has been overruled in 2020 by the Supreme Court of India. India has been ground zero for the controversial relationship between crypto and the Union government. The Union government has levied 30 per cent tax plus surcharge and cess on the transfer of any VDA such as Bitcoin or Ethereum as well as 1 per cent TDS on the sale of cryptocurrency assets. These decisions by the union government have received criticism from the sector as well as the crypto enthusiasts.

Sitharaman is of the opinion that India needs to work with International Monetary Fund (IMF), Financial Stability Board (FSB) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to ensure the regulation of cryptocurrency assets with all the G20 member countries on board.

Sitharaman stated that crypto regulation was in India's national interest since the trail of transactions is hard to track. She added there was a high possibility of crypto transactions being used to fund terrorism, drugs or 'just gaming the system'.