Key Takeaways:
- BJP MP Nishikant Dubey states ‘crypto must be banned’ as he believes crypto will be used for prostitution, terrorism, and other illegal activities.
- He compared the current scenario in the country concerning cryptocurrencies to the Tulip Mania in Holland in the 1600s, raising the subject during the Lok Sabha’s Zero Hour.
Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, has expressed his thoughts on the hotly disputed cryptocurrency issue. Mr. Dubey, according to NDTV, spoke during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Monday, alleging that crypto works on the same technology as the ‘darknet,’ and that it will be used for drug trades, illegal weapon sales, prostitution, and even terrorism funding sooner or later.
Mr. Dubey compares the current crypto situation in India to Holland’s “Tulipmania” in the 1600s and says it must be halted immediately.
Mr. Dubey further stated that another Lok Sabha member, Shivkumar Udasi, has been lobbying for the prohibition of cryptocurrency for more than seven years. He also stated how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has always maintained its position on the topic that cryptocurrency should be outright outlawed.
He claims that the operations of a blockchain cannot be regulated.
“Nobody owns blockchain technology, so how can its behavior be controlled if no one owns it?”
Meanwhile, India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, recently stated that the government is now working on a new crypto bill, introduced in Parliament if the Union Cabinet approves it. Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, has long been a skeptic of cryptocurrency, and on November 1, he wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi a letter expressing his views.
Mr. Dubey proposed a legal alternative to cryptocurrencies in the form of Central Bank-issued Digital Currencies (CBDC), a concept that several other countries are considering right now.
He also stated that the CBDC may eliminate intermediaries such as retail banks and rely on blockchain technology to avoid being cloned or hacked.
Meanwhile, Congress lawmaker Ravneet Singh Bittu highlighted the subject of Punjab Aam Aadmi Party president Bhagwant Mann stating that a top BJP leader “offered him money” and a position in the Union Cabinet in exchange for joining the saffron party ahead of next year’s state assembly elections. Bittu demanded that the government be honest about the situation.
