The Indian government evaluates how to handle the regulation of cryptocurrencies instead of establishing an absolute ban.
The information was provided by the Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Singh Thakur, who clarified that the objective of the National Executive is to stop the illicit transactions of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and prevent their use in payments.
The government will take all measures to prevent crypto assets are used both for the financing of illegitimate activities and in the payment system.
Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance.
In response to the interpellation he attended in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, Thakur announced that the government is “proactively” exploring applications with blockchain to start “the digital economy.”
Although the minister denied that the Indian government is going to proceed with the elimination of the use of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, did not offer more details about the bill on this matter published last week by the lower house of parliament on its website. As CriptoNoticias reviewed, this regulation would only allow exceptions to promote the use of blockchain technology.
On Tuesday bitcoin It was traded in India at a discount of up to 20% against a 10% premium on its global price, amid the alarm that was generated by the possible ban of the cryptocurrency in that nation. “Bitcoin was trading slightly higher that day, after hitting a high and low of $ 34,715.66 and 33,150.73, respectively, in the past 24 hours,” reported Indian digital news outlet Mint.
Can India enforce this bitcoin ban?
Faced with this possible ban on cryptocurrencies, Kumar Gaurav came out, founder and CEO of exhange of bitcoin Cashaa, which performs operations in India. He said “there is no way that any government” can ban cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, because of their global and decentralized nature.
In statements offered by Gauray to the media, he noted that the most recent government efforts of that nation to regulate cryptocurrencies are rather an attempt to prevent illicit activities in the sector, which cannot be interpreted as a ban directly.
«They can certainly prohibit the legitimate use of cryptocurrencies, which will only make it difficult for an ordinary person who does not understand it to get involved in them. However, what we understand is that the Indian government is trying to take action against scams that are run in the name of bitcoin, ”he noted.
And he added: “We are confident that the government will present regulations and policies that will put control over scams and allow innovation in the industry (…) to grow and prosper.”
Attempts to ban bitcoin are long-standing
In April In 2018, the Federal Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected all private cryptocurrencies as legal tender and also recommended banning existing digital cash with prison sentences of up to 10 years and heavy fines for anyone dealing of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.
In that same year, the Supreme Court of India, eliminated the prohibition against the trade of cryptocurrencies in that country, which had been imposed by an order of the Federal Reserve Bank of India.
In a 180-page verdict, this institution noted that the ban established on trade was not proportional and that the RBI itself had not found any adverse impact or damage made by the activities of crypto exchange houses onedas.
At the time of writing this note, the price of bitcoin is USD 36,636.57, according to the CriptoNoticias calculator. The market capitalization of USD 680 million and the volume traded in the last 24 hours has been more than USD 64 million, according to CoinMarketCap data.
