New Delhi: The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, has again expressed serious concerns about private cryptocurrencies. “Cryptocurrencies are created by individuals and pose a threat to financial stability,” Das said at a press conference on Thursday after monetary policy ends.
It will undermine RBI’s ability to resolve issues, the governor added.
Mr. Das has time and again signaled problems with the functioning of cryptocurrencies.
However, Mr. Das stated that RBI’s Digital Rupee will be launched in the year 2022-23 but did not provide a timeline for the release. “There will be no difference between a digital rupee and the normal rupee,” the governor said.
The Union Budget 2022-23, presented on February 1, has proposed a 30 percent tax on virtual digital assets.
Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) held the lending rate, or repo rate, at 4 percent and the reverse repo rate, or key borrowing rate, at 3.35 percent.
The central bank has kept key repo rates at record lows since May 2020 and reiterated time and again that it will continue to support growth and keep its stance accommodative until the economic recovery is firmly anchored.
RBI maintained its growth forecast at 9.2 percent and inflation at 5.3 percent for the current fiscal year (2021-2022).