Legal experts split over crypto regulation

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

MUMBAI: Legal experts are divided over regulating crypto assets. While one section is advising the government not to take a hasty decision without understanding the use cases, the other is against continuing the status quo despite the difficulty in defining crypto. ICICI Bank’s group general counsel Pramod Rao has said, “The government’s pause (on introducing the crypto bill in Parliament) is a good thing for us to wait and watch, and decide whether we need a separate regulator, which can transcend into all use cases.” However, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Anu Tiwari said that it will take a few years for a new regulator to attain maturity — which is too long a time for crypto. According to Tiwari, Sebi is the practical choice for regulating crypto despite challenges like identifying issuers of tokens.

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The legal experts were speaking in a webinar organised by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy on Saturday. According to Rao, regulation is aimed at having transparent rules that are commonly applied. One cannot expect regulation to be a safety net for investors. Rao said it is incumbent on the domestic crypto industry to keep enhancing the level of disclosures. Rao also said that in the case of regulation, the application of several existing laws will have to be considered. “Crypto trading may already be contravening the exchange control norms under FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act),” he said. Sriram Chakravarthi, partner at