The government will soon begin a campaign to raise awareness about cryptocurrencies and online gaming.
A government official announced that an awareness campaign stressing the legality of cryptocurrencies and online gambling platforms will be launched by the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), a division of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The campaign aims to inform consumers of the risks associated with making financial investments in such assets and platforms as despite recent market volatility and official initiatives to discourage the asset class, many micro and small investors in the nation are still making cryptocurrency investments.
Additionally, it has been noted that gambling platforms sell items that may be construed as gambling, and these are even promoted as opportunities for people to make extra money.
“The campaign will highlight that cryptocurrencies are not legal in India and that these assets also carry significant risks. Any investment where people are promised lucrative and assured returns has an element of high risk,” said an official as quoted by The Economic Times.
The new campaign will be the first of its kind undertaken by IEPF that focuses on digital assets. With this campaign, the IEPF is now tweaking its approach by focusing on other asset classes and addressing various Ponzi schemes.
“While cryptocurrencies may pose a greater risk in urban circles, the rural population is vulnerable to a different set of Ponzi schemes like crowdfunding schemes or chit fund frauds. Rather than one size fits all, IEPF will take a targeted approach to publicize various Ponzi or high-risk investment schemes,” the official further added.
The cryptocurrency space has crashed significantly in recent months with the biggest crash occurring during April. Several big cryptocurrencies have lost more than half of their value. Some cryptocurrency exchanges, however, have figured out how to portray these drops as a great chance to buy more crypto assets.
The safety net provided by regulators is one of the key distinctions between regulated investment assets like stocks or government bonds and unregulated assets like cryptocurrencies. Bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs keep some regulatory control over asset classes like stocks or bonds.