Indian Govt vs Bitcoin

The recent cryptocurrency bill has put the Indian Govt vs Bitcoin at the center of the debate.

Recently, there has been unsettling sand over cryptocurrency in India. Although this is not the first time the Indian government has come up with a bill to ban famous cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, the movie seems to have scared investors and crypto exchange companies. To make it even more hectic, the Ministry of Finance has stated that it has no proposal to recognize Bitcoin as a currency of the country. This puts the Indian Govt vs Bitcoin at the center of the debate.

The Ministry of Finance has sent a written response to a question asked in Parliament during the first day of the Winter Session. The reply states that the Indian government has no plans to recognize bitcoin, the most popular and foremost cryptocurrency in the digital circle, or give an exception to that. The statement comes at a time when Bitcoin investors and Crypto exchanges in India are already in panic mode following the introduction of the Cryptocurrency Bill, which is aimed at prohibiting all private currencies. When the government was asked if they are aware of the growing popularity of Bitcoin in India, the finance ministry said they don’t have data on transactions to clarify that. The finance ministry’s stance on virtual tokens has put the Indian Govt vs Bitcoin in a tough war.

The government is all set to put forward ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021’ in Parliament during the ongoing Winter Session. Although the crypto industry is expecting a positive regulatory change, the Indian government might be thinking that whatever they have suggested and commented so far is not supportive of the crypto community. The government seeks to “Create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.” The bill is expected to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India while only making use of the underlying technology with few exceptions. Besides, it will introduce central bank digital currency (CBDC), regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to go mainstream.

Cryptocurrency Adoption in India

While western countries seem to be enthusiastic about cryptocurrency rollout, Asian countries are scoring big according to the numbers. A Chainalysis report suggests that Vietnam, India, and Pakistan are placed at the top three spots in the Global Crypto Adoption Index. Compared to Pakistan, Indian and Vietnamese markets are much larger with greater potential for growing adoption. India recorded 59% of its crypto activity from various platforms while Vietnam recorded 47%.

Why Banning Cryptocurrency in India could be a Tough Task?

According to WazirX CEO, Nischal Shetty, around 20 million people from across the country have invested in digital tokens so far. Besides, even on a global scale, India is seen as the fastest-growing country on cryptocurrency grounds. Indian Crypto platforms like WazirX and CoinSwitch Kuber have 8.5 million and 11 million users respectively.

After RBI banned banks from engaging in cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, the Supreme Court has scrapped the move and showed a green light. Following this, cryptocurrency in India has grown like never before. With More crypto exchanges mushrooming in the country and celebrities taking on their stance, Bitcoin became a center of attraction and a major investment model in 2020 and 2021. Therefore, imposing a sudden move and completely wiping out all cryptocurrencies could be a tough task for the government.

SM promotion: Recently, there has been unsettling sand over cryptocurrency in India. Although this is not the first time the Indian government has come up with a bill to ban famous cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, the move seems to have scared investors and crypto exchange companies. To make it even more hectic for them, the Ministry of Finance has stated that it has no proposal to recognize Bitcoin as a currency of the country. This puts the Indian Govt vs Bitcoin at the center of the debate.