Terming cryptocurrency as a "risky area," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday in Rajya Sabha said that they are yet to take a call on advertisements around cryptocurrency. The statement comes a day after she was quoted as saying in the Lok Sabha that there was no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency in the country.

"This is a risky area and not in a complete regulatory framework. No decision was taken on banning its advertisements. Steps are taken to create awareness through RBI and SEBI. The government will soon introduce a Bill," Sitharaman said during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.

The Finance Minister also said that regulation of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) is being discussed by the Centre. NFTs can be any digital asset, be it a jpeg file or GIF or even a digital music file. The hype in cryptocurrency has also resulted in a boom for the NFT market globally.

She also added that the risk that cryptocurrencies could lead to undesirable activities is also being closely monitored. When asked by MP Sushil Kumar about the steps taken to curb advertisements, Sitharaman added that "investors have been cautioned."

On taxes collected on crypto trades, Sitharaman asserted, "Don't have ready information about the amount of tax collected on cryptocurrencies."

Ms Sitharaman also said there were extensive discussions on the regulatory capacity of cryptocurrencies and "let's wait for the Bill".

"There were other dimensions and the old Bill had to be reworked and now we are trying to work on a new Bill," she added. Replying to a series of questions in the Rajya Sabha, Ms Sitharaman said, "This Bill, once the Cabinet clears, will come into the house". The government had also listed a similar Bill for the last Parliament session (monsoon) but it was not taken up.

"The earlier attempt was definitely to come up with a Bill that the house can consider. But, later, because rapidly a lot of things had to come into play, we had started working on a new Bill. This is the Bill that is now being proposed," she said adding that there was a "genuine attempt" to bring the Bill even during the monsoon session.

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