A former senior RBI official said in comments that contrast Reserve Bank of India’s current approach to virtual coins that cryptocurrencies should be treated as assets or commodities in India and subject to existing laws about exchanges.
Former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, R Gandhi, told an event organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India on Tuesday that cryptocurrencies could be used in the future to pay for goods and services once they are accepted by commodity exchanges. “Then people will be able to buy, sell, and hold automatically.”
Narendra Modi’s government recently finalized regulations for cryptocurrencies, a move that Gandhi opposed. In spite of repeated concerns from the Reserve Bank of India to the government about cryptocurrencies, Chainalysis found that trading in the assets jumped to $6.6 billion in May, from $923 million in April 2020.
Regulators should have access to information about how much cryptocurrencies individuals hold for tax purposes and this should be shared with the exchanges, Gandhi said.