India’s government will introduce a bill to ban private cryptocurrencies and create a framework for a central bank-backed digital money, parliament said in a shock announcement.
The proposed bill “seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India”, the Lok Sabha said, and comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned last week that Bitcoin presents a risk to younger generations and could “spoil our youths” if it ends up “in the wrong hands”.
It is the latest such move by a major emerging economy, after China declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal in September.
