India announces bill to ban private cryptocurrencies

India announces bill to ban private cryptocurrencies

New Delhi: India's Parliament announced late on Tuesday that a government bill likely to ban private cryptocurrenciesand create a framework for a central bank-backed digital currency will be put before the lower house in next week's session. The announcement by a major emerging economy comes after China declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal in September. The bill, called Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, "seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India," according to a bulletin of parliament's upcoming business. It added that the bill would allow "for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses." The bill would also "create a facilitative framework for [the] creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India," it said. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi framed cryptocurrencies — that are highly popular in India and beyond state control — as a domain that needs to be closely policed. He warned they present a risk to young people and could "spoil our youth" if they end up "in the wrong hands." The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank, has previously expressed strong views against the use of private cryptocurrencies,