new delhi dec 10 a gravitydefying bitcoin rally to over rs 10 lakh a piece interspersed with stories of people making crores from thousands has left the regulators flummoxed amid fears that a complete lack of regulatory regime for such cryptocurrencies may give rise to eponzi scams the financial sector watchdogs including rbi and sebi as also various government agencies will soon get into a huddle to prepare a framework to safeguard the gullible investors and to clamp down on the fraudsters who may try to manipulate the regulatory gaps a senior official said there are quite a few proposals on the table and those include applying to cryptocurrencies the existing regulations aimed at checking spread of ponzi schemes or illicit money pooling activities money laundering and black money generation and circulation another official added the fear is that sudden spurt of numerous schemes offering investment in virtual currencies is reminiscent of the plantation scams of 1990s in india and the eponymous ponzi scheme of 1920s in the us the official said the jury is still out on whether such virtual currencies should be allowed as legal payment tender or investments though there are also suggestions from some quarters for allowing them with necessary checks and balances the officials said the issue needs to be discussed at the highest level and one such forum where this matter has been discussed in the past and would be taken forward is the fsdc financial stability and development council whose members include top government functionaries and regulatory heads a wider public awareness campaign may also be unveiled to make people aware of huge risks associated with investments in completelyunregulated areas like bitcoins and other such virtual currencies the officials said the reserve bank has already issued multiple warnings about such risks while reiterating that it has not given any licence or authorisation to any entity or company to operate such schemes or deal with bitcoin or any virtual currency the rbi has been issuing such warnings since 2013 the first time when the surge in bitcoins caught the attention of indians but the risks have multiplied manifold now in the wake of a significant spurt in the valuation of many such vcs and a rapid growth in initial coin offerings icos modelled on the initial public offers or ipos for issuance of new shares in the stock market some entities have begun resorting to icos to raise funds from investors including hnis and other individuals who are getting lured into claims of huge returns from bitcoins and other such variants apparently getting minted in the digital world but also reaching the real world including as wedding gifts this trend has led to some suggesting that the securities and exchange board of india sebi which regulates capital markets should regulate this hitherto unregulated area but others suggest that the virtual currencies should ideally be under the rbi jurisdiction as they are payment instruments the recent spurt in bitcoin value from under