THE RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagaran Manch has said that the Government should bring a law to recognise cryptocurrency transactions as an “asset class” and regulate it. Speaking to PTI, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan suggested that the Government should also ensure that data and hardware, which is used in mining, processing, and transacting of the cryptocurrencies, stay at domestic servers. It will help the Government unearth illicit transactions and take action against them, he added. “At present, anybody from anywhere in the world can invest in it through private exchanges run by private entities.

 

And the worse is, cryptocurrencies are not controlled by any central authority,” he said when asked for his views on cryptocurrencies. There is no mechanism in place to see how the encrypted transactions are being made through private exchanges, who are the ones investing in it and what the investors are doing with them, he added. “Legislation is needed to regulate cryptocurrencies and to recognise transactions done with it as asset class. This will help develop a better understanding of the transactions for purposes of taxation and national security,” Mahajan said. He rejected the comparison of crypto assets with commodities like gold, calling it “unfounded”, saying cryptos have no “intrinsic value”.