Topic: India makes ownership of Bitcoin criminal offense - How to respond? - page 7. (Read 1481 times)

That is the thing, laws can say whatever they want, in theory they could even criminalize people just from the act of breathing but such law will be impossible to enforce and something similar could happen to this law if it is passed as it is.

If they pass this law and criminalize holding cryptocurrencies then those that can will get out of the country and will leave with their fortunes in bitcoin, the rest will just keep silent about their bitcoin holdings and will use decentralized exchanges, so at the end they can pass whatever laws they want this is not going to stop the adoption and the rate of growth of bitcoin at all.

India has been spreading FUD on the media about Bitcoin for YEARS now. And the illiterate and less-technologically-savvy people, which compose a large chunk of our population just eat that up. No one does their own research or due diligence. The media has only ever reported negative news about BTC, like when scams/fraudsters are arrested and they have used BTC or sometimes I've just seen the argument that "cryptocurrency" is "hacker-currency" and some weird stuff like that. I remember India trying to push its own crypto in 2018 named Lakshmi, but never followed through with that. So, yeah, the buzz has been going on for quite a while but India has always failed to take a step and instead of regulating, it wants to ban crypto.

Also, the bill supposedly has vague "exceptions", which I believe will just be crypto owned by the giant corporations which will be excused. In words of Elon, India has gone corpo.

Well, India is run by the government that is why they ban cryptocurrency, they see cryptocurrency as a threat so they have to neutralize it before it gets bigger. Your theory of India accepting pure digital currencies contradicts with your other statements which is the wild fluctuation on the prices of bitcoin and other currencies and that the official fiat currency will limit foreign influence and create a stability.

No one expects them to arrest all of the 10 million cryptocurrency users in India. What they are planning to do is to arrest a few prominent traders, hand them extremely harsh punishments, so that the remainder would remain terrorized. Unlike the Western nations where the citizens are concerned about their personal liberty, authoritarian policies are easier to implement in India, where a large section of the population is illiterate. The government will make an announcement that they are banning Bitcoin because it is being used for terrorist financing (despite having zero evidence to support their claim) and the illiterate supporters of the ruling party would immediately support the move. Already, the pro-government social media handles are spreading their anti-Bitcoin propaganda in the social media platforms.

Again and again the RBI seems to come out with these absurd proposals that will have absolutely no means of enforcement.

We've been through this saga with China, India, Pakistan and a bunch of other countries that have attempted to regulate (i.e., ban) BTC to various extents. But none of them have worked - the decentralised nature of BTC at its core means that it has no central point of failure.

If, and it's a big if, the bill does get passed, then there may be short term panic. But I simply do not think that it'll affect either markets nor BTC fundamentals in the slightest in the medium to long run - people already know the Indian government's stance on BTC a long time ago, and they also know that any proposed law of such kind will not have any practical effect other than wiping out domestic regulated bitcoin businesses (the majority of which have already relocated/closed).

This is a nice briefing from India budget 2021 and I saw the impact on the Indian market yesterday when bitcoin crashed couple of thousand USD here while the international market price was constant. I was surprised to that but that meant only one thing to me, and thats buy

Criminal offence? Well it will take years for any government authority to track you down because they are not having proper infra or IT support really. They have to handle more serious issue within the country apart from the crypto currency use.

I have seen rare cases where crypto currency trader account was ceased by banks or feds. If anyway they did, by it's nature they will be released on the nominal bail application.

Please note that we have no solid rules and regulations which states it's offence. Court order doesn't matter as long as it gets pen downed on a notice in the public interest.

India tried this stuff earlier, it wont be a success. It's a country of farmers not the digital coin owners. India will have to overcome the basic problems first so that they can go rogue on crypto holders.

Do you really think that it is that simple? There are 5 to 10 million cryptocurrency users in India, and out of them 10% maybe active users who trade in cryptocurrency very frequently. Other countries are restricting immigration levels (especially that of skilled immigrants), perhaps with a few exceptions such as Canada and Australia. And even if some of them manage to immigrate, there is no guarantee that these new destinations will remain pro-Bitcoin for too long.

Moving out of India permanently is the best choice anyone can make at this point if time! Canada and Portugal have opened their immigration channel so I think educated Indians can looks for these options. India is pretty much living under a dictatorship since 2014 where the freedom of speech is brutally killed by the government. The government is trying to poke their smelly nose on every personl matter of their citizen and even trying to sell off the agricultural sector to the corporates!

I think leaving India permanently is the best decision anyone can make, especially people with job experience and professional degrees.

Since when has anything in India ever been good for people? I know that is not a good thing to say and disrespects all the good progress made over the years but I guess when it's come to money and crypto and finance, we're still always falling short on helping the people with what they really need. Good thing though is that crypto can't be stopped by anything in India, so we just go quietly p2p.

The idea of criminalizing holding any sort of cryptocurrencies was the mad brainchild of Subhash Garg when he came up with that first draft. I don't think they will go to this extent.
Unfortunately, everything at present is being decided by a regressive government aided by a media truly gone mad. They are always fanning the flames of chauvinism because the thing that gets the most TRP in today's India is a fake display of nationality and making everything about it.

Farmers protest become secessionist movements; A murder becomes a case of snatching civilization from Bollywood; An investigation into a manipulative journalist becomes "foreign powers" trying to suppress Indians through Congress.

If this becomes political, Bitcoiners WILL lose. So while you concern is legitimate and we all need to rally, I would advice against making this about elections or anything political.

The best option is to follow the route of law and basic human right to choose. The Supreme Court has enough knowledge to judge this. As Civil society, we have to support the nascent industry and make it about financial freedom. Making it about Modi's politics or crony capitalism of the ruling party will only lead to a quick suppression using media sensationalization.

UPDATE:
LOL, I think we posted at almost the same time. If it goes this way, then God save our Sats. If the ruling party's "nationalists" are onto it, this will be difficult.

Last time also they came up with some stupid law. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned the usage of bank accounts for the trading of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency in 2018. Some of the local exchanges filed an appeal with the supreme court of India. The problem is that the legal process in India is extremely slow and it can take many years to get a judgement. Anyway, in 2020, the supreme court said that the ban by RBI was unconstitutional.

The difference this time is that it is the government which is coming up with the law and not the RBI. If the bill gets approved by both the houses of the parliament, then it gets in to a law. Under such circumstances, even the supreme court will not show any sympathy towards the cryptocurrency users.

BTW, for the last two days, I have noticed a massive campaign by ruling party supporters in social media, where they are painting all cryptocurrency users as tax evaders and criminals. From the pattern, it looks like a well organized and well planned strategy for me.

whether the Indian government does not conduct a study before deciding...
There is no 100% accurate reason to make Bitcoin an excuse to punish someone. there is a lot of potentials that can be felt by Bitcoin owners in India, especially in this time of crisis. I hope that bitcoin owners fight for their rights there.

For most of the ordinary cryptocurrency users in India, there is only one option and that is to sell their holdings immediately without any consideration about the returns or tax implications. Those with large size holdings will be worst hit, as they need to shell out almost half of the returns as tax. Moving out of India is an option that the richer investors can consider. Many of the Caribbean nations will provide you with a passport in exchange of a donation amounting to $100,000 to $250,000. But for the 99% of the investors who are unable to afford that, the options are limited.

Private cryptocurrencies? Does Bitcoin count? It isn't private from what I know, so I guess it shouldn't count as one? Not to mention that it seems like India is trying to develop its own digital currency, hence why it's trying to kick out all owned cryptocurrencies that are being circulated inside the country. They're basically trying to let the market use their currency instead of others, though there would be exceptions as they said. I'd reckon that as long as the community shows avid support for Bitcoin and properly state it to the government, they'd make an exception to it since really, if they put out a shtcoin as an exception and Bitcoin as not? Then hell, that'd be quite hilarious.

Why India bans private cryptocurrencies to support government solutions. The official currency will give the country more control to limit foreign influence, but it will also provide the kind of stability associated with conventional currencies. The prices of Bitcoin and similar currencies still tend to fluctuate wildly and are more susceptible to manipulation. In theory, India can accept pure digital currencies without digital traps.

Did they implement the rule or it is just another speculation that the government is planning to criminalize. When i searched regarding this all i can see is proposed regulation and it says it might reveal the details in the budget today and they are planning their version of digital currency. The only precaution you need to take is that the government will come after the registered users in exchanges that are functioning in India other than that there is not way they can target users holding the coins.

10 years? That seems to be overly extreme for merely owning an asset lol.

Anyway, if you're from India, you pretty much have 2 choices.

• Simply sell it and wait for the illegalization to be lifted.
• Sell your holdings that has ties to you(exchanges, etc), and though I'm not telling anyone to commit crime, people could still simply accept bitcoin through anonymous services and such and simply hold them through their non-custodial wallet. Of course, people should be really cautious as a simple mistake could get them caught.
• Optional: move out of India lol.

You have a wallet and you know the seed. Seeds are not in any digital device. Maybe you memorized the words or left clues in your house or anywhere that you only know what those means. How would anyone in the world will know the key and prove that you are holding bitcoin?

I see nothing to be worried when holding bitcoin in fact if you do p2p trade then there are no need to touch any exchange or government agency. You are anonymous.

I thought India is a big country with diversity but you are saying the economy is controlled by those Ambani/Adani company/guys? This will be a shame. Of course, they will not like things that could risk their control in everything.

Anyway, I think no one can stop a bitcoiner if they know how to practice their privacy.

"To create a framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India."
It is clear that the Indian government wants to ban cryptocurrencies just for the sake of promoting their own CBDC.Also they don't plan to ban the blockchain technology,just the cryptocurrenices.
We may witness the same thing happening in other countries,when their central banks launch their CBDCs.
However,I don't believe that the Indian central bank digital currency will be launched anytime soon.
The only way to respond to such bill is to hide your private keys and use crypto exchange platforms located outside of India.

This is a refurbished version of the 2018 bill. Back then there was a provision for 10 years jail term, for anyone found to be holding cryptocurrency. I don't think that they have changed the provisions (apart from a few minor cosmetic corrections). To confirm, we need to wait until the bill is presented in the lower house of the parliament (which may take a few weeks more).


Obviously it is very difficult to enforce, but with such harsh punishment provisions no one wants to end up on the wrong side of the law.

@pooya87, in a communication sent to the Supreme Court of India in 2020, the government clarified that by the term "private cryptocurrency" they mean all the cryptocurrencies that are not controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.