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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 18 said the RBI has expressed concerns over cryptocurrencies saying that they should be prohibited as they can have destabilising effect on the monetary and fiscal stability.

Nirmala Sitharaman has said. «It has to take its time for all of us to be sure that at least, with the given available information, we are making a discerned decision. It can't be rushed,» Sitharaman said during an interaction with students and faculty at Stanford University in California. «There is impatience outside saying what are you doing about crypto… I understand the impatience but I'm sorry, that's how it is going to be,» she said.

Biggest risk of cryptocurrency could be money laundering and its use for financing terror, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.

In a setback for crypto investors and trading platforms, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha on March 21 that losses incurred from virtual digital assets (VDAs) cannot be set off against the gains from another VDA transaction while computing tax.

India became one of the few countries to tax digital assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 30% tax on transfer of such assets in the Budget. Though the FM said taxing an asset does not bring legitimacy, industry watchers said that clarity on tax policy is likely to be the first step towards regulation of crypto. Some industry players said that the high tax will dissuade investors, while others felt it will give confidence to serious investors. The Budget announcements mean that income from any transfer of crypto, even gifts, would attract a 30% tax. In addition, investors cannot get any deductions and won’t be allowed to set off losses from transfer of such assets against any other income. The government has sent a strong signal against speculation or trading by retail investors, according to analysts.Attract or dissuade investors?According to industry players, clarity on taxation will give new customers confidence to enter the crypto market. Darshan Bathija, CEO & co-founder of crypto exchange Vauld, said that the government’s move has addressed concerns around legality and that he expects more Indians to invest in crypto. Presented ByDid you Know?Sunny Leone too

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday did not hand out any major tax benefits for individual tax-payers during her Budget announcements.

Union Budget, the crypto community is buzzed with multiple questions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have stepped forward to clear the clouds of ambiguity. In line with this, in a recent interview to News18, Sitharaman said that the budget announcement on virtual assets was aimed to differentiate between private cryptos and digital currency.

crypto platforms jumped 30-50% on budget day Tuesday, when the finance minister announced a proposal to tax digital assets. While crypto investors and exchanges looked for the fine print in the proposal, some viewed the announcement as an indirect way to endorse crypto trade in India. Industry executives said the budget announcement resulted in pent-up interest among risk-averse investors as well as companies who earlier feared the digital assets would be outlawed in India.

Union Finance Minister  on February 1 said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2022-23, marking the first official statement from the Union government on the launch of the much-awaited digital currency.

crypto exchanges and trading platforms cheered the announcements made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the taxation of virtual assets in Union Budget 2022. The Finance Minister announced taxation on gains arising from the sale of virtual assets at a flat rate of 30 per cent in her Budget speech, without any deductions to be allowed on these gains. The government also laid out the detailed provision over tax deducted at source (TDS) at a rate of 1 per cent levied on payments made on transfer of digital assets. Ashish Singhal, Founder and CEO, CoinSwitch and Co-chair Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) said, we welcome the government's decision to introduce central bank digital currency (CBDC) to accelerate digitization.

The crypto industry body has suggested that the government can regulate cryptocurrencies by introducing a licensing regime for exchanges and other intermediaries and bringing in strict norms to track funds used in crypto trading,  Moneycontrol has learnt from sources.