NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that no country has found a one-point formula to regulate technology like cryptocurrency and collective ‘global action’ is the only way to regulate evolving technologies, including cryptocurrencies.
“Even as we are thinking at a national level, there should simultaneously be a global mechanism through which we are constantly monitoring the movement of technology, so that whether it is your cryptocurrency, tech-driven payment systems, data privacy, whether it is ensuring that data is used ethically…When you are looking at data as one of the revenue-generating options, to regulate it will have to be a collective effort,” the FM said, speaking at the InFinity Forum organised by International Financial Services Centres Authority, in partnership with GIFT City and Bloomberg.
Her comments come at a time when the government is preparing to come out with legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies and resonates with what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned last month.
“Nations should recognise national rights and at the same time promote trade, investment and larger public good. Take cryptocurrency or bitcoin for example. It is important that all democratic nations work together on this and ensure it does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth,” PM had said.
Sitharaman said regulation — legislative as well as executive — have so far only been catching up with technology.
“So as long the executive and legislature are only catching up, you will never be on top of it. And with technology, I am not sure they (regulators) can ever be on top of this kind of situation, because it is ever-changing and ever-evolving,” she said.