India will not take a rushed decision on cryptocurrency: Sitharaman

livemint.com:

India will not rush into finalizing a policy on cryptocurrencies and virtual digital assets, but take an informed decision after due deliberations across multilateral fora, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while addressing an event at Stanford Medicine.

At a fireside chat organised by the University, Sitharaman said while blockchain had the potential to contribute positively to the economy, it could also be manipulated and used for money laundering or terror financing activities. 

“Blockchain is full of potential not just in the payments arena but also in many others. Our intention is in no way to hurt the ecosystem, or to even say that we don’t need it, but to define for ourselves how we need them and in what ways their growth should be facilitated and how we are going to handle it… (This is so) because as much potential it may have for positive contribution to the economy, it also can be manipulated for not so desirable ends —whether it is money laundering or leading to financing terror," she added.

These are some of the concerns,not just for India, but for many other countries, Sitharaman said. “It will take its time for all of us to be sure…within the given available information, we are taking a discerned decision… and it can’t be rushed through."

On sanctions, she said that such moves always have a collateral impact on many other countries due to global interconnectivity in the digital era, “and may need to be factored in during decision making".

The US has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, impacting operations of banks and other entities. “Sanctions always have an impact on the economy, of not just the country on which the sanction is levied, but a