PM cautions democracies on crypto currency, says should not end up in wrong hands

In perhaps his first public comment on digital currencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday cautioned democracies of the world on the use of crypto-currency and urged them to work together to ensure it did not spoil the youth.

“Take crypto currency or Bitcoin for example. It is important that all democratic nations work together on this and ensure it does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth,” Modi said in his keynote address at the inaugural Sydney Dialogue via video conferencing at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2021.

Modi was speaking on the theme of India’s technology evolution and revolution.

While there were benefits of the digital age, the world also faced new risks and new forms of conflicts across diverse threats from sea-bed to cyber to space.

“The biggest strength of democracy is openness. At the same time, we should not allow a few vested interests to misuse this openness,” Modi said.

Modi had last week chaired a meeting a crucial meeting on the way forward for crypto currency and warned that those cannot be let to become avenues for money laundering and terror financing.

Prior to that Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had voiced his concern over Cryptocurrencies and their impact on macro economy and financial stability of a country.

Modi said there were five important transitions taking place in India.

One, the world's most extensive public information infrastructure being built in India. Over 1.3 billion Indians have a unique digital identity, six hundred thousand villages will soon be connected with broadband and the world's most efficient payment infrastructure, the UPI.

Two, use of digital technology for governance, inclusion, empowerment, connectivity, delivery of benefits and welfare.

Three, India has the world's third largest and fastest growing Startup Eco-system.

Four, India's industry and services sectors, even agriculture, are undergoing massive digital transformation.

Five, there is a large effort to prepare India for the future.

“We are investing in developing indigenous capabilities in telecom technology such as 5G and 6G. India is one of the leading nations in artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially in human-centred and ethical use of artificial intelligence. We are developing strong capabilities in Cloud platforms and cloud computing,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison too have virtually participated in the conference.

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