The federal government of India a few months ago reportedly banned all activities around cryptocurrency. But recently, the news resurfaced when the minister of finance said recently that there would be a calibrated position on cryptocurrencies in the country.
Reuters, on Monday, referring to a senior official in government who has in-depth knowledge on how the plan was supposed to take shape, reported that the government of India is proposing a law that will ban cryptocurrencies in every form of its operations, including holding, trading, and even mining.
Uncertain and Unclear Decision from the Government
This was made known moments after Nirmala Sitharaman -India’s Minister of Finance made a comment saying, “we are looking at how experimentations in the digital world can happen, both in cryptocurrency and others.”
Though there were no details to the kind of experiment that India planned to allow, the minister’s comment gave the people hope about the operation of crypto in India.
It was in an interview with India Today that the minister gave more expressions to explain the initial comment. She said that the kind of experiments they want to allow is the ones around blockchain technology.
She said that there would be a certain amount of allowance and window available for people to explore the blockchain, bitcoin, fintech, or whatever name the crypto experiments can be called. It is not like we are shutting off all. However, referring back to the office that was quoted in Reuters, she said that the government doesn’t have an issue with optimally harnessing the technology.
The finance minister then said that there is a cabinet note in preparation, and everyone is waiting to see what is inside the note or, rather, put the proposed law.
Implications of the Law
If the law, however, suggests a complete ban of all cryptocurrency activities, there won’t be any option than for all crypto-related business to shut down. At the same time, the executives of the cryptocurrency exchanges in India are hoping that the government will not enact such a law, but they are getting ready for whatever is the worst-case scenario.
Some said they would relocate from the country, while some suggested that they will fight the government legally at the supreme court of India.