Indian policy on private cryptocurrencies is hardening

Subject

Policy on cryptocurrencies.

Significance

A government proposal entitled ‘Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019’, which has yet to be released for public debate, was leaked this week. This comes just as Facebook’s plan to launch a fiat-currency-linked cryptocurrency, Libra, has worried regulators worldwide.

Impacts

• Libra threatens the market share of large players in the digital payments sphere such as Amazon and Paytm.
• Firms whose products are marketed by merchants through Facebook using Libra may lose access to data about those buyers.
• This would redefine competition in the e-commerce sector.