The Indian government has finally moved forward with a cryptocurrency bill. Entitled “ Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Act 2021 ”, the bill has been included for consideration during the current parliamentary session of Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. It seeks to create a framework for India’s official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but bans all cryptocurrencies.
Indian government ready to introduce cryptocurrency bill in current parliamentary session
After nearly two years of waiting, the Indian government has finally moved forward with a cryptocurrency bill. According to the Lok Sabha newsletter of January 29, the bill titled “The Cryptocurrency and Official Digital Currency Regulation Bill 2021” is included for consideration in the current parliamentary session. The Parliament’s budget session started on Friday and will end on April 8, with a recess from February 15 to March 8. The union’s budget will be presented on February 1.
The newsletter lists the bills that the Indian government sent for discussion during the budget session. Among them is the cryptocurrency invoice, the description of which reads as follows:
Create an enabling environment for [the] creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The bill also seeks to ban all private cryptocurrencies in India, but it allows certain exceptions to promote the underlying cryptocurrency technology and its uses.
Mint’s post explained, “In the legislative program for Lok Sabha’s 17th Budget Session which began today, the government has included a bill that provides for the ban of all private cryptocurrencies in India such as than bitcoin, ether, ripple and others. . “
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This bill to ban cryptocurrencies resembles the cryptocurrency bill drafted by an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) headed by former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. This bill, dated February 2019, was introduced by the Ministry of Finance in July 2019. It proposes to ban all private crypto-currencies and provides for the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee. Garg has since resigned his government post and the Finance Department has been silent on the bill until now.
On Monday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a brochure on Indian payment systems acknowledging the popularity of cryptocurrencies. The central bank also confirmed that it is “exploring whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat money and, if so, how to make it work.” In December, it was reported that the Finance Ministry was considering imposing an 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Bitcoin transactions.
First introduction of the crypto bill in parliament, reaction from the crypto community
Although there have been reports that the Indian government is planning to ban cryptocurrencies previously, this is the first time that a bill to ban cryptocurrencies has been included for consideration in Lok. Sabha.
The Indian crypto community disapproves of the government’s decision. “It’s crazy,” wrote one Twitter user. Another warned that the RBI would do better not to ban bitcoin, stating that “the crypto bill should not be a FUD at this time or else India will lose momentum and innovation in the decentralization space” .
Indian Cryptocurrency Exchange Wazirx Executive Director Nischal Shetty said: “A country as large as India should at least make an effort to understand the underlying terminologies before introducing related bills. technology in parliament. It seems like a hasty move. If done badly, it can potentially destroy much of the value that the general public holds. He added: “I hope this is a precursor to positive crypto regulations,” pointing out:
Just because a bill is introduced does not mean it will pass …. Incorrect or hasty regulations will set us back a decade. The right regulations will propel India to the forefront of this technology.
“We have leaders who are technologically capable and they will definitely raise issues about it,” said the CEO.
Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder and chief technology officer of Coindcx, another Indian cryptocurrency exchange, noted that there are approximately more than five million Indians who have “a combined wealth of $ 10 billion in bitcoins, or 2% of the Indian exchange. reservations. , taxes on cryptocurrencies can generate a few billion dollars in taxes for the Indian government. He reiterated that “previous attempts to ban bitcoin in India have failed. The industry survived 2 years during the banking ban imposed by the RBI.
News of India’s cryptocurrency ban came after a spike in bitcoin prices after Tesla CEO Elon Musk changed his Twitter profile to ‘#bitcoin’ and tweeted: ‘Looking back , it was inevitable ”.
Do you think India will ban cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, gobierno indio
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