Draft rules on online gaming being scrutinised, to be notified soon, says Rajeev Chandrashekhar

On cryptocurrency, Chandrasekhar said the government had a clear stance on the future of the internet, which is Web 3 and blockchain.

Draft rules on online gaming are being inspected and will be notified soon, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on March 28.

Speaking at the Times Network India Digital Fest in New Delhi, he said “Our approach or our response to a sector is not based on comfort or discomfort as much as harm legality and illegality.”

He further explained that the basic principle of online gaming is that it represents platforms that are operating on the internet. "We will certainly make it very, very difficult and illegal for any wagering to happen on these games," he said.

On cryptocurrency, Chandrasekhar said the government had a clear stance on the future of the internet, which is Web 3 and blockchain. He said that while the government is supportive of innovation, crypto intersects between the internet, innovation ecosystem, and the macroeconomy in the financial sector, which is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.

As more functionalities and services are enabled online, there will be many examples of ‘twin regulation’, he futher added.

“There will be a sectoral regulator, who has his or her view on what the regulations for that sector must be and there will be the internet and tech regulator which is MeitY,” he further said.

Explaining how crypto can be a microeconomic risk he said, “We have no problems on anything to do with blockchain but certainly it is RBI’s case and that crypto represents a macroeconomic risk."

"It represents many other types of risks… FTX and many of these cases have only reaffirmed that crypto is not business as usual. Certainly, crypto is not just innovation," he further said.

India Digital Fest was organised by the Times Network and will highlight technologies and disruptive innovations being implemented across the Indian ecosystem.

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