Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, will speak on Saturday 26 September 2020 during the Virtual General Assembly of the United Nations.
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The government of India intends to introduce a bill in the country that bans private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and creates a national cryptocurrency.
The so-called “Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill” moves “to create a facilitating framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.”
In addition, the bill also seeks to ban all private cryptocurrencies in India, but it provides for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its use. ‘
Bitcoin’s value rose more than 20% to $ 38,566 on Friday after Elon Musk turned his personal Twitter bio into #bitcoin.
This is not the first time that Indian lawmakers have taken such a strong stance on cryptocurrencies. In 2018, an Indian government panel recommended banning all private cryptocurrencies and proposing up to ten years in prison for offenders.
In the same year, the then Minister of Finance of India, Arun Jaitley, said: ‘The government does not recognize cryptocurrency as a legal tender or currency and will take all measures to prevent the use of these cryptocurrencies in financing illegal activities or as eliminate part of the payment system. . “
Many countries – including the United States, China, Japan, Canada, Venezuela, Estonia, Sweden and Uruguay – have explored their own development of digital currencies.
However, there are significant differences between national digital currencies and private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are decentralized, while national digital currencies are usually centralized.