“Banning cryptocurrency is perhaps the most advisable choice open to India,” the Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said in a keynote address delivered at the Indian Banks Association’s 17th Annual Banking Technology Conference and Awards. He added that cryptocurrencies cannot be defined as a currency, asset, or commodity and carries no underlying cash flows or intrinsic value. “We have examined the arguments proffered by those advocating that cryptocurrencies should be regulated and found that none of them stand up to basic scrutiny,” he clarified and concluded that they are akin to Ponzi schemes. He also pointed out that cryptocurrencies’ “impressive returns” do not prove anything as even tulips offered staggering returns in the 17th century, in reference to the Tulip mania. “Cryptocurrencies are very much like a speculative or a gambling contract,” T Rabi Sankar added. T Rabi Shankar’s stinging assessment of cryptocurrencies indicates that the RBI continues to have a conservative stance over cryptocurrencies. His comments are a sobering reminder of the issues which plague crypto regulations in India. Key Takeaways from T Rabi Sankar’s speech Will wreck the currency system: Rabi Sankar was of the opinion that cryptocurrencies will wreck the currency system, the monetary authority, the banking system, and the government’s ability to control the economy. “They threaten the financial sovereignty of a country and make it susceptible to strategic manipulation by private corporates creating these currencies or governments that control them,” he said in his address. Undermines financial integrity: “We have seen…
