29th November 2021
India raising concerns with crypto regulations and non-backtracking due to anonymity is a gateway for money laundering. To regulate, India might have to keep in mind that new global norms are being set on the permission and management of cryptocurrencies, particularly given that money laundering and financing of terrorism would become very easy without coordinated rules.
FATF recently issue guidelines for monitoring virtual assets (read cryptocurrencies), and virtual asset service providers (read, exchange) clarify that countries will be judged according to on performance of new FATF metrics. The idea is to track and intercept money laundering and terror finance activities. In the future, crypto will replace the need for banks and financial institutions as an intermediary. It would require a regulated financial flow for global regulatory to enforce risk assessment.
In recent discussions with the India Ministry of Finance, an elaborated exercise has been published for the best performance in regulating crypto.
As governments attempt to confront this new technology, which is both an opportunity and a threat, the October 2021 updated guidance clarifies what is expected of them.
- Clarification of the definitions of virtual assets and VASP,
- Guidance on how the FATF Standards apply to stable coins,
- Additional guidance on the risks and the tools available to countries to address the money laundering and terrorist financing risks for peer-to-peer transactions,
- Updated guidance on the licensing and registration of VASP,
- Additional guidance for the public and private sectors on the implementation of the travel rule, and
- Principles of information-sharing and cooperation amongst VASP Supervisors
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill seek to ban all but, a few private cryptocurrencies to promote underlying technologies while allowing an official digital currency by the RBI. Also included in the bill is an attempt to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, certain exceptions are provided for the promotion of the technology behind cryptocurrencies.
Source: MSN
