Research & briefs
Regulator Mapping for Digital Asset Categories
Which Indian regulator should oversee which kind of digital asset — mapping Bitcoin to commodity-style oversight (MoF/DEA, FIU-IND) rather than SEBI or RBI.
A companion to the functional taxonomy, presented at GNLU, November 2025.
Presented · GNLU stakeholder consultation, Nov 2025
The idea
- Once digital assets are classified by function, the right regulator for each becomes clear — a risk-based mapping rather than a single catch-all authority.
Who oversees what
- Decentralised cryptocommodities (Bitcoin) — commodity-like, issuerless; risks are market integrity and AML. Likely regulators: the Ministry of Finance (DEA) for policy framing, FIU-IND for AML/CFT, and a possible future Digital Commodities Cell — not SEBI, not RBI.
- Tokenised securities — an issuer and profit expectation. Primary regulator SEBI, with MCA/ROC for corporate filings.
- Stablecoins — payment and settlement instruments with reserve risk. Primary regulator RBI, with SEBI, FIU-IND and MeitY.
- Consumer / utility tokens — light-touch, under MeitY and consumer-protection law.
Want the full document?
We share the complete brief directly with the institutions it’s for. To request it, get in touch.
Request the document