Madras High Court receives PIL requesting for ban on Cryptocurrency trade Advertisements

CRYPTOCURRENCY LAW INSIDER INCRYPTOCURRENCY LAW INSIDER IN

Shivani Gadhavi –

Published On: December 07, 2021 at 18:30 IST

The Madras High Court received a plea seeking a ban on all kinds of advertisements which promote cryptocurrency trading across different types of media platforms while the Government sets rules and regulations in relation with crypto trading.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is filed by an Advocate named Ayya. The Cabinet Secretary, the Finance Secretary and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are called on by the Madras High Court as the Respondents to put a stop on advertisements promoting crypto trading in the country.

The Petitioner accused media companies of publishing misleading facts regarding cryptocurrency in order to exploit the common citizens. The PIL alleges that due to the rise in illegal trading of cryptocurrency, there has been an aggravation in cases of money laundering, terrorism and finance related crimes.

Further the Advocate sought a ban on such advertisements as there is no intervention of the Government in the working of the transactions that take place via crypto trading, which therefore, leaves it only to the developers of the currency to control everything related to the trading.

The Petitioner stated, “There is no established framework for recourse to customer problems/disputes resolution as payments by crypto-currencies take place on a peer-to-peer basis without an authorized central agency which regulates such payments.”

Validity of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange was questioned and the same was brought to the Court’s attention by mentioning the Central Governments’ Inter-Disciplinary Committee Report of 2017 which recommended those who indulged in crypto trading, to refrain from doing it where it’s illegal.

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