A misreading of India’s Cryptocurrency Bill has occurred. India, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency investor, dominates the market. On the cautious side, there are 15-20 million crypto users in India. About 4-5 billion dollars in crypto holdings, or 35-40 crores in today’s market pricing; that isn’t an investment, but rather a holding.
The Indian government is proposing to pass a Bill on Crypto, which would prohibit the use of cryptocurrency as a form of payment in India, as well as the mining of cryptocurrency. Anyone caught doing this will be imprisoned because it is a non-bailable offence, a person may even be arrested without a warrant. A person found in violation of the rules may also face fines ranging from 5 crores to 20 crores.
The use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment will be prohibited, but not entirely. In reality, the Indian government is considering cryptocurrency as an asset. There will be an openness to developing blockchain-based products and considering cryptocurrency as an investment alternative.
There have been numerous stories regarding what private cryptocurrency is. But, according to Mr Garg, who was a member of the committee that drafted the draught Bill of 2019, they were the ones who defined or introduced the word “private cryptocurrency” in their Bill; he claims that they looked at everything, including a currency that was not backed by the government. In fact, he stated that the intention was solely for crypto as a payment mechanism, not for an asset.
There’s no need to panic since the same thing happened last year, and the bank’s decision to cut money flow to crypto exchanges was overturned by the Supreme Court in March 2020. After that, the markets returned to normal. The trading was proceeding at the same rate as before.
As a result, there has been significant growth in investments in crypto assets. Some of the commotions could have been created by commercials, which were flashing and beaming into people’s PCs, televisions, and mobile phones. There has been a perception of cryptocurrency as a safe investment vehicle.
As the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is concerned about cryptocurrencies, the market regulator- Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may be the regulator for digital currencies or monitor the crypto assets. Citizens will also be required to declare their crypto assets and retain them on Indian exchanges; they will no longer be permitted to keep them on foreign exchanges or in private wallets, according to reports.
The RBI’s domain is currency, so everything they’re talking about is from a currency standpoint. We should listen to them and find out what their problems are. We can’t deny that new technology like cryptocurrency can be misused; the only way to prevent this is to enact appropriate legislation.
People were constantly perplexed by it a long time ago. At the very least, the government, the media, and the general public are discussing it, indicating that the technological wheel is turning.
