By Alicia Maher
On Monday, Shaktikanta Das, Governor of India’s central bank, reiterated his negative position on the crypto industry.
India’s apex bank has never been supportive of the crypto space. The bank stated that digital assets will always hurt India’s economic and financial industries.
Before the recent downtrend in the broader crypto sector, the RBI had repeatedly warned Indians against investing in cryptocurrencies.
Das further suggests that the RBI might increase the interest rate soon. However, he clarified that the final decision about the rate increase would be decided at next month’s monetary policy meeting.
Crypto Crash Shows It Has No Value – Das
Das also noted that the apex bank has repeatedly warned many not to invest in the crypto market because of its high volatility.
However, he hopes many of them have learned their lessons the hard way since the market has crashed and they have now lost their money.
Das made his opinions known during an interview with CNBC-TV18 on Monday.
“Despite our repeated warnings, see what’s happening in the crypto market. If we had put regulations in place, those who lost their money would have blamed the regulations.”
Das further opined that it is difficult to regulate the crypto space because they have zero fundamental value.
You’d recall that India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sithraman, had called on regulators globally to make a concerted effort to regulate the crypto industry globally.
He opined that a global regulation for the digital asset space would reduce crypto investors’ exposure to huge risks in the crypto market.
The RBI and Indian authorities agree that cryptos do not provide any fundamental value. Despite their reservations, crypto adoption continues to soar among Indians.
Das further said, “we have communicated our stance to the authorities. I believe they would make the right call. However, the government’s official statements and interviews by their officials show that they agree with our position over cryptos.”
Like the RBI governor, the deputy governor of the apex bank, T. Rabi Sankar, is also anti-crypto.
Sankar opines that Ponzi schemes are better than crypto trading. He added that he wouldn’t hesitate to ban crypto trading if within his powers.
The RBI has been unable to impose any ban on crypto operations since 2020. That year, India’s supreme court overturned the RBI’s ban on digital assets.
Other Authorities Also Maintain Caution Over Digital Currencies
The crypto market crash and de-pegging of some stablecoins is a cause of concern for many authorities. Hence, many have been more vocal about their criticism of the crypto space.
Recently, US SEC chief, Gary Gensler, claimed that if the crypto market crash persists, many will lose confidence in the traditional finance market. Hence, he maintained that there should be increased regulation over the crypto market.
Similarly, Christine Lagarde, the ECB president, asserts that authorities need to regulate crypto as they have no value.