Is there a crypto-ban? The Bill Isn’t Complete, But It Examines Checks And Balances
According to persons familiar with the situation, India is mulling a proposal to recognise cryptocurrencies as financial assets while protecting small investors.
The conversations take place as authorities rush to complete a bill that the Centre hopes to offer to parliament in the upcoming session, which begins on November 29. The legislation might set a minimum amount for digital currency investments while prohibiting their use as legal cash, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because no final decision has been made.Policymakers gave themselves some leeway when they said the bill wants to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies except “some exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses” in a description of the measure posted on parliament’s website late Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the uncertainty prompted a sell-off in cryptocurrencies such as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, which were down more than 20% in trade on the WazirX platform, one of India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, at one point. On trading platforms like Binance and Kraken, they were significantly less affected.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants digital currencies outright banned because they threaten the country’s macroeconomic and financial stability. While the government is considering taxing cryptocurrency earnings in the next budget, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das indicated last week that the country needs to have a lot more in-depth conversation on the subject.
The Prime Minister’s Office is actively looking into the matter, and once the bill’s contents are finished, it will be presented to the Cabinet for approval, according to the sources.PM Modi convened a meeting on cryptocurrencies earlier this month, following which officials stated that India would not allow unregulated crypto markets to become conduits for money laundering and terror financing. Later, in a speech last week, he urged democratic nations to work together to regulate private virtual currencies, warning that if they are not regulated, they may end up in the “wrong hands.”