"Cryptocurrency does not end up in the wrong hands," says: PM Modi

PM showed his concern over cybercrimes during his public comments.

 New Delhi: Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi expressed his views in his first public comments on how Govt. would work on the new rules of digital currencies today. He said that "The world's democracies must work together on cryptocurrency to ensure it "does not end up in the wrong hands."

The Prime Minister showed his concern over the increasing cybercrime rates like money laundering and terror financing.

Commenting that technology and data are becoming new weapons and that democracies must cooperate in rules for data governance, the Prime Minister said: "Take cryptocurrency or Bitcoin, for example. All democratic nations must work together on this and ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands, which can spoil our youth."

PM Modi was speaking at the Sydney Dialogue, a forum on emerging, critical and cybertechnologies.

PM Modi gathered a meeting on Saturday on crypto was an outcome of a consultative process that involved the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance Ministry and Home Ministry, along with experts. Attempts to mislead the youth through over-promising and non-transparent advertising must be stopped, it was reportedly discussed in the meeting.

RBI chief Shaktikanta Das has also warned that India needs much deeper discussions on cryptocurrencies. "When the central bank says that we have serious concerns from the point of view of macroeconomic and financial stability, there are far deeper issues involved. I'm yet to see serious, well-informed discussions in the public space on these issues," Mr Das said at a recent event.

the Prime Minister said the Digital Age "is changing everything around us" and has redefined politics, economy and society. "It is raising new questions on sovereignty, governance, ethics, law, rights and security. It is reshaping international competition, power and leadership," he said.