Topic: [2019-07-23] Indian govt panel seeks total ban on private crypto (Read 216 times)

Don't lose hope. If the next Economic Affairs Secretary doesn't agree with the decision, then he will withdraw the bill from hearing. Subhash Chandra Garg has been fired and now most of the decisions he took will be overruled. Regarding the draft bill, it hasn't been presented in the parliament yet. There is a very good chance that it will be shelved and the next EAS will start drafting a new bill (which may or may not be hostile to the existence of cryptocurrency in India).

If the bill is shelved, it may take anywhere from 18 to 24 months for them to compile a new bill and get it signed in to law. Until then, the status quo will prevail.

while this is a good news for India in general
BUT it doesn't cancel the bill that is already submitted for hearing
my hope that they are going to review it because of the public outcry ( highly unlikely both - reviewing and outcry , by the way )
India is the second most populated country in the world with over 1 bil people living there , cannot imagine bitcoin being banned for such a large group of people
but I do not see any "protect bitcoin" movement or alternative approach to solving the problem , the people of India just seem to let it go and let their corrupt government decide for themselves what cryptocurrencies future will be in their country - do not let them have an easy ride , please

I have some very good news for you guys!!!!

Subhash Chandra Garg (Economic Affairs Secretary), who was behind this draft bill have been fired by the government. One government official stated that his performance as the EAS was not satisfactory enough, and therefore he was transferred to another department. Mr. Garg refused to take the new role, and instead opted for voluntary retirement.

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/rss-behind-subhash-chandra-garg-surprise-transfer-from-finmin/story/367695.html

Ok, so the hidden agenda is this.... Ban the competition and create your own Digital currency that you can control. Did we expect anything else from a corrupt government like India? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index   

Most of the countries that are banning Bitcoin and Crypto currencies want to either protect the value of their own reserve currency or they want to implement their own restrictive centralized Crypto currency, like India is doing. 

Bitcoin is unstoppable and it presents the interest of the people and not the interest of corrupt governments. 

India is a corrupt third world country, and to tell the truth I don't expect the government to give legality to cryptocurrency. But from what I have noticed, a lot of FUD have been going on in India regarding the proposed ban. And till now, the government has not confirmed that they are planning to ban the crypto.

A few days back, I made my points here:


Let's first get some confirmation from the Indian government, before we aid the cabals by spreading the FUD.

Ban on private cryptos is one of the scenario's that was always on the table when it comes to government regulation of cryptocurrencies, so I'm not surprised to hear that India gonna do it. I can easily see even western countries taking such measures, saying that it's for fighting terrorism and drug trade. Most countries think that they can handle Bitcoin because they can do chainanalysis, so maybe Bitcoin's poor privacy is what prevented it from getting banned as soon as it emerged.

I'm a bit confused - this means that only private cryptocurrencies will be banned (for example, monero), but will allow centralised cryptos (eg, ETH). If it is just a ban on the private cryptos, I still don't think it'll be that bad, compared to India banning all cryptocurrencies. People who are already using private coins for illegal things will use the coins illegally. If you ban something that is high in demand already, you are shooting yourself in the foot, because then a black market for the banned item will develop and it'll be harder to monitor then before.

So it looks like they are only banning private coins because Libra isn't banned?

As I've said before, it's pretty sad India will follow after China's footsteps instead of Japan or Korea, but they haven't made hefty contributions to blockchain technologies, so it isn't that bad.

India is going to have a very hard time enforcing the law ( if what they are planning is to jail or fine people using cryptocurrencies)
there are many bitcoin and altcoin users in India and the public unrest could be big - the country is not the richest by any means and taking away
the possibility to trade or even hold crypto is not the smartest of the decisions
besides I don't understand what do they mean under "private" cryptocurrencies ?
bitcoin , for example , is a decentralized crypto , it is not private by any means
I would wait for the bill to pass though , since India and Russia has been bipolar in regards to the regulating crypto and  no outcome is impossible

We always only see news regarding the side of the government but we have yet to see if their citizens and their crypto industry will try to protest this. The last thing I see about their side is when Zebpay failed to battle out on removing the bank transaction ban on them. Without their voice then we can expect this to be fully enforced on a much earlier date. The Indian market is a important market for us in the industry if they cripple it then I think prices would be affected negatively.

India hasn't really done much yet. It's largely just the regular dose of fud and crap articles we get to read from sources that have sources 'familiar with the matter'. It's just one big circus. What it comes down to is that we should wait for the Indian government to actually do whatever it is that we read in the media, and as long as that isn't happening, I just call it bs.

In the end, India can't do Bitcoin more of a favor than banning it. If they are really out to do so, then it will make people there even more aware of how their government is just trying to control them. It's long term demand for Bitcoin because those who manage to buy coins will very likely hold them for a long time. The more money they have sitting in Bitcoin, the less there is for the government to confiscate.

I guess its more challenging to crypto supporters in India than the government. There will be underground enthusiast that is for sure but it will be very difficult to maintain and sustain crypto tin the long run if government is totally against it. The only choice for them is to really get out of the country to continue their crypto activity. otherwise you don't want to be jailed for what ten f***ing years?

It's just sad to hear, but we all know that this is coming, one thing that will be really hurt in the long run is India itself and the people as we all know that crypto brings something in the table for our Indian crypto enthusiast.

Despite all these rumors, the government has never confirmed it. So I would say that it will be better for us to wait until the bill is actually presented in the parliament. There are millions of active Bitcoin users in India, and I am sure that a considerable fraction would continue to use it even if it gets outlawed. It is going to be pretty challenging for the government to antagonize this large section of voters.

Not anymore surprising considering that in the past many months, we are made to believe that the government of India is not so friendly with the idea of cryptocurrency as they are viewing this as an enemy of its own national currency and consequently that of the national economy. What I could not understand is that these people failed to see the many positive developments in Japan which recognized and regulated bitcoin for good. I am sure that years from now, India will eventually realized its big mistake closing its doors for more innovations and a share of the new investments out of this emerging industry. Actually, I think this is much worst than what China did and is doing with cryptocurrency.

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/govt-committee-recommends-ban-on-cryptocurrency-in-india-1572446-2019-07-23

Another one here.

This is the least surprising development in recent crypto history if it turns out to be true. See ya later, India. We hardly knew you.

India still can not understand to allow them cryptocurrency or ban. How long will this uncertainty continue?

It sounds like a consequence Libra from Facebook. They do not care the small cryptos, but Facebook and Whatsap is HUGE in India. They see it as if US is meddling in their finance.

Not going to wade into this mess, because there seems to be just so many voices piping up and down about the state of crypto in India. This news, if true, does realise that it's banning private crypto and yet deciding to install one itself, right?

And if true, this SHOULD mean that Bitcoin and maybe a handful of others, would escape the ban. Interesting to see how they'll define private... because at the moment. But all the quotes seem to deem all crypto as private.

https://www.rt.com/business/464811-india-crypto-currency-ban/



A total ban on private cryptocurrencies has been approved by a government panel in India which also recommended a 10-year prison sentence for anyone dealing with unregulated digital assets.

After nearly two years of work, the inter-ministerial committee (IMC), chaired by the economic affairs secretary, has submitted its final report to the government, together with draft legislation seeking to ban crypto trading in the country. It also recommended setting up a 'Digital Rupee' that would be issued by the Reserve Bank as legal tender.

The Committee has recommended a law banning the cryptocurrencies in India and criminalizing carrying on of any activities connected with cryptocurrencies in India.

Highlighting their “serious concern” over the growing popularity of alternative digital payment systems that completely lack government oversight, the IMC stressed that privately generated cryptocurrencies “lack all the attributes of a currency,” carry no “intrinsic value” and therefore can be detrimental to India’s economy.

To stamp out crypto mining and trading, the panel in their draft 'Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill' suggested imposing a jail term of up to 10 years and/or a penalty of up to $7.25 million against any person who “directly or indirectly mines, generates, holds, sells, deals in, transfers, disposes of or issues cryptocurrency.”

"These cryptocurrencies cannot serve the purpose of a currency. The private cryptocurrencies are inconsistent with the essential functions of money/currency, hence private cryptocurrencies cannot replace fiat currencies."

The need to produce clear guidance on cryptocurrencies became acute last April when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notice banning financial institutions from participating in virtual currency transactions. In July 2018, the Supreme Court of India endorsed the ban, pending further review.

Before the government decides on the fate of cryptocurrencies in India, the IMC report and the draft legislation will be reviewed by all relevant departments and regulatory authorities.

Subhash Chandra Garg
@SecretaryDEA
“Committee is very receptive and supportive of distributed ledger technologies and recommends its widespread use in delivering financial services,” Subhash Chandra Garg, Economic Affairs Secretary said in a tweet. “It also opens up door for a possible official digital rupee. Private crypto currencies are of no real value. Rightly banned.”