The Indian government has reportedly proposed banning the use of cryptocurrency for payments and setting a deadline for investors to declare their crypto holdings. Violators may be arrested without a warrant and held without bail. In addition, the crypto bill may call for a uniform know-your-customer (KYC) process for all crypto exchanges.
The cryptocurrency and regulation of official digital currency bill 2021 is awaiting introduction during the current winter session even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament that the government has no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency in the country.
She also informed the House that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions. Privately, however, cryptocurrency is very much in circulation in India as it is in many other economies across the world.
The new cryptocurrency bill probably seeks to create a regulatory framework for transactions. It is possible that the government may come up with its own central bank digital currency or CBDC.
In such a case, all other digital currencies in the market will be seen as private cryptocurrencies. Will the law be strong enough to deal with such private cryptocurrencies and exchanges? Thus, the confusion remains about the current and future status of cryptocurrencies in India, exchanges facilitating their transactions, RBI’s role as currency controller and the challenges before the government’s tax department.
Going by the global trend, cryptocurrency is here to stay and even prosper. In coming years, it may as well pose a challenge to the central banking system. But, it is unlikely to become a substitute for central bank-controlled paper currency in the foreseeable future.
According to Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of crypto investment platform Mudrex, there are more than 11,000 cryptocurrencies that are traded across exchanges. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether and others are available across centralised and decentralised exchanges.
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