Cryptocurrency This Week: India Likely To Ban Cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency community is in a dilemma as the Indian government recently announced that it was planning to introduce legislation to ban cryptocurrencies. The finance ministry, on June 12, has passed a draft cabinet note which seeks to set up a legal framework for banning cryptocurrency in India. According to media reports, the note has been shared with the other ministries for consideration. However, the details of the draft are not available.

The report stated that the government would lean on a previously drafted bill by Garg committee, from July 2019, which proposed all forms of cryptocurrency are banned and anyone caught holding them could face a hefty fine and up to ten years imprisonment.

“It’s not clear whether the finance ministry intends to work upon the old draconian crypto bill or whether they plan to work on bringing a new bill,” said Nischal Shetty, CEO, WazirX.

Shetty, in a blog post, said with over 5 Mn young crypto enthusiasts, India is poised to gain a big share of the $250 Bn crypto market. Further, he said that the government should revisit the entire bill and think in the direction of innovation and encourage a fast-growing industry as it is in India’s best interest.

Calling for a crypto-friendly law, Shetty said that crypto startups have been generating jobs across a variety of functions, including legal, compliance, tech, marketing, business development and finance in India and abroad, amid the pandemic-created economic crisis. Also, he said that some of the top-notch projects have come out of India. “Imagine what we can achieve with positive regulation,” added Shetty.

Also, many crypto exchange founders and startup CEOs told CoinDesk that the rumours of India considering a new ban on crypto may be premature.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of writing was $9410.74, with a market cap of 173.21 Bn, compared to last week (June 9, 2020) which stood at $9,696.45, with a market cap of $178.40 Bn.

Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, was priced at 230.19, with a market cap of $25.63 Bn at the time of writing, compared to last week (June 9, 2020), where the price of the cryptocurrency was $243.28, with a market cap of $27 Bn.

Reprinted from INC42, all the copyrights reserved by the original author.