India has officially revealed details of the ongoing work around how to regulate crypto for the first time in the history since taking over G-20 presidency.

“IMF (International Monitory Fund) is working on a paper in consultation with us (India) which will focus on “aspects of the monetary policy and the policy approach to crypto assets,” said Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

“There’s going to be 135 minute seminar on crypto assets on the policy response (during a G-20 meeting later this month) and for that again the IMF is preparing the finalized paper that will form the base,” he added.

Seth also revealed that the IMF had conducted a meeting with representatives of developing economies around the paper in January.

India assumed the presidency of the G-20 or Group of 20 and the intergovernmental forum of the world’s 20 largest economies including the European Union as a bloc on 1st December, giving it the responsibility of shaping the group’s agenda. On the eve of taking over the presidency, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said how to regulate crypto assets shall be a priority.

Further, the minister shared that India would like to bring up the topic of crypto assets for debate at the G20 summit, which would pave the way for global countries to have a technology-driven regulatory framework.

India’s position on whether crypto is legal or not has been completely clear since it imposed stiff taxes in 2022 but didn’t declare it as legal.

After sitting on a draft crypto bill for numerous years, the Indian government has reportedly come into action. It is working on coming up with its stance on the legality of cryptocurrency so as to become Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliant. Moreover, the Indian finance minister has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lead the global nations in cryptocurrency regulation, to which the IMF replied that it is ready to work in tandem with India on these new-age digital currencies.

“I don’t wait till regulation comes into place for taxing people who are earning profits”

the Indian Finance Minister said when asked how a nation can tax something that it doesn’t acknowledge is legal.

“The question of legality will come only if something is declared illegal. Crypto assets are not illegal in this country,” Seth explained becoming the second official to give clarity on the matter. India’s draft bill for crypto regulation has been in cold storage after it felt global consensus is needed first.

“We had prepared a bill (which) went through internal discussions. Thereafter there was a consensus that we have to deal with it at the global level,” Seth said. In terms of next steps for India in shaping global crypto policy the plan is to take the progress of the IMF paper from consensus at the G-20 to the crypto assets working group of the Financial Stability Board and then “all countries put together” because crypto is an asset class that can be traded across the board and thus “it requires all countries” to accept the policy, he added.