India is considering a complete ban on private ownership of cryptocurrencies
India has continued to crack down on cryptocurrencies in the past few years. The measures it has taken include blocking all Indian cryptocurrency exchanges and prohibiting banks from providing transactions.
However, if privately held cryptocurrency, the Indian government cannot supervise it. In particular, private individuals can also conduct trading operations through cryptocurrency exchanges outside India.
Although this makes it more difficult for privately-held cryptocurrencies to exchange fiat currencies, it is obvious that as long as there are enough privately held cryptocurrencies, they can still be exchanged.
India actually tried to implement a ban on private possession of cryptocurrency before, but the related attempt was rejected and it was not implemented in the end.
“Bitcoin vs. Ethereum”by QuoteInspector is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
At that time, the Indian regulatory agency made a policy that Indian citizens were criminals to buy, sell, or hold cryptocurrency, and could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison.
And now the Indian Parliament is preparing to submit a new regulatory bill, which is believed to prohibit any citizen of India from holding cryptocurrency with some exceptions.
The exceptions are mainly digital currencies issued by the Central Bank of India. This type of digital currency is used by the Central Bank of India to replace paper fiat currency and is, therefore, a legal act.
However, it is not clear what penalties will be imposed on privately held cryptocurrency in India, but India has always been strict in the supervision of cryptocurrency, so the consequences may be serious.
The Indian Parliament may submit relevant regulatory bills in the near future, and the Indian Cabinet is actually considering similar bills, so the final result is likely to be passed.
Except for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the central bank’s digital currency and blockchain technology will not be banned.
At least for fintech, there are opportunities for trials and pilot projects, but this also requires the approval of the Indian cabinet before it can be carried out, otherwise, it will still be regarded as illegal.
At present, the Central Bank of India is also developing digital currency-related technologies. Behind this type of digital currency is also the non-tamperable characteristics of blockchain technology.
The Indian Finance Minister said that technological advancement is changing with each passing day, and we cannot pretend that we don’t want it. India is looking for ways to experiment in the digital world and cryptocurrency.
Via: businessinsider
