Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake raised concerns over the absence of a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and digital asset transactions, citing a reported Rs. 290 million crypto scam and concerns about capital flight under the Foreign Exchange Act. He asked the Government to state the current policy of the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance, actions taken since his January 2025 queries, estimated crypto transaction volumes, tax treatment of crypto gains, and whether enforcement agencies have a joint mechanism to address fraud, money laundering, and illicit outflows. He also questioned whether Sri Lanka is lagging behind peer jurisdictions and requested a timeline for introducing laws or regulations to govern digital assets and crypto exchanges.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Regulation of Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Transactions.
¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, considering the recent Rs. 290 million crypto scam under investigation and observations by the Colombo Chief Magistrate that crypto transactions are enabling capital flight due to gaps in the current framework, I wish to ask about regulation, supervisory failures, and legislative delays regarding cryptocurrency and digital asset transactions in Sri Lanka. As reported by Daily Mirror online: “Rs. 290 M crypto scam: ...”
¶ 03 I raised this in the Committee on Public Finance on 23 January 2025. It was revealed that up to now crypto transactions are not per se illegal. Since then, large sums are reported leaving via platforms like Binance, with gains mostly outside tax and regulation.
¶ 04 Please answer:
¶ 05 1. What is the current policy stance of the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance on crypto trading, digital asset exchanges, and blockchain-based financial transactions in Sri Lanka?
¶ 06 2. Following my 2025.01.23 queries to the CBSL Governor, what regulatory or supervisory measures have been adopted to monitor and regulate crypto-related transactions?
¶ 07 3. Does the Government accept that, due to lack of a clear legal framework, crypto channels enable evasion of safeguards in the Foreign Exchange Act, No. 12 of 2017, facilitating capital flight?
¶ 08 4. What is the estimated value of crypto-related transactions originating from Sri Lanka in 2023, 2024, and 2025? What mechanisms exist to monitor these flows?
¶ 09 5. Are profits or capital gains from crypto trading currently taxable? If so, how many persons or entities have declared such income to the Inland Revenue Department?
¶ 10 6. Have the Central Bank, Financial Intelligence Unit, and CID established a joint mechanism to detect crypto-related fraud, money laundering, and capital outflows?
¶ 11 7. Compared with peers like India, Singapore, Thailand, and the UAE — which have introduced digital asset regulatory frameworks — does the Government accept Sri Lanka is lagging international best practices? If so, what immediate steps will you take?
¶ 12 8. Will the Government introduce laws or regulations to regulate digital assets and crypto exchanges, and what is the timeline?
¶ 13 I limited my words to 350 to save time. I trust the Hon. Minister will respond.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 March 2026 ·No. 23387 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/3032
Cite as: Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 March 2026. No. 23387. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/3032