Bitcoin Forum

Hello folk, I am a bit confused if cryptos are legal or illegal in India.
As bank has stopped providing services to crypto-exchanges. Is it illegal to hold bitcoin in India?https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvSFyKbrEp-IgQY6DABDwf9gqmgq

Yes it is true that crypto is illegal in India, but it does not make crypto users in India to surrender, they use foreign markets to make transactions.

I think the Indian government has not yet decided on finality on what to do with the burgeoning cryptocurrency movement whether it will allow its entrance into the Indian market in a regulated environment or will it shun away just like what the China did last year. That remains to be seen. Now, in the meantime banks are afraid to deal with businesses involved with cryptocurrency all because they are not sure what will happen next they are just avoiding any complications that may arise if the government will declare the whole thing to be illegal. Hope the government will see the positive sides of cryptocurrency and not just what they hear and see on the media.

Still, there is no conclusion from the Supreme Court and the given a circular and again hearing will in the month of July. Till now, the government is given notice to banks by not encouraging people to buy the cryptocurrency, previously Arun Jately informed in a statement, cryptocurrency is not legal  India but people who trade cryptocurrency should pay taxes on it.

 There is no proper announcements from the government side. In India neither it is legal nor it is banned that is not illegal. Just RBI warns the bank just close the accounts of the people who done transactions with cryptocurrency. But a serious discussion is going on about this cryptocurrency acceptence. But people in india use bitcoin and there are so many local exchanges now running and the transactions are going on. Lets wait and see what is going to happen whether it is announced as legal or not.

They have a really complicated situation right now. Because the Government of India has officially stated that cryptocurrencies are not recognized legal tender in the country in short you cannot directly used cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in buying products, yet cryptocurrencies are allowed to be earned, traded, and mined. Lately the Reserve Bank of India, which is their central bank issued a note where they are notified banks not to open accounts related to cryptocurrencies as it can "potentially be used for criminal activities".

As to how things are going I think the legislative assembly of India is having a hard time on creating a law that will ban cryptocurrencies that is why they are acting to creating memorandums with the RBI. Which I think means some politicians are opposing the creations of a law which will ban cryptocurrencies in the country.

No,crypto is not yet illegal in India still anyone can use crypto currencies in India but as from the government statement it is not legal tender which doesn't mean illegal.But we may get conclusion soon for this issue until that you can hold your bitcoin if you are from India.Even if they made illegal users can use foreign exchanges for trading but it is illegal activity then you may face legal actions if you get caught after it was made illegal.

Rightly Said! Most of the information are correctly given here. However, I doubt any of the politicians are opposing the ban. Only 41% of Indian politicians are educated, so only a handful of the Indian politicians have the brain power to understand this new technology. Even a Member of parliament Kirit Somaiya said bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. So it shows their level of awareness about cryptocurrency and the related technology.

I believe the main reason why Indian government has not yet banned crypto currency is that, they are not able to understand how to control it from being circulated. They are also trying to calculate whether they will be loosing on taxes if they ban it or not. So they have formed a committee with some economists and their report on cryptocurrency is still awaited. Probably government will take some action after the report is published. In the meantime, they are just trying to discourage the business community by issuing circulars through RBI.

So to answer Op's question, Bitcoin and crypto currencies are not yet banned in India. But you can't use it as a legal means of payment for any goods or services, neither you can exchange it using your bank account. But there are ways to counter that rule as well through p2p exchange. Do a little research and  you will know it.

Bitcoin’s roaring success towards the end of 2017 proved irresistible to Indian investors, despite rumors that India’s central bank could put a stop to the token. At the moment Bitcoin has not been outlawed or banned, but India’s major finance institutions do not recognize it as legal tender.

Crypto isn't illegal in India per se, but exchanging for fiat in the normal banking system seems to be.

In India the crypto currencies were neither legal nor illegal,so you can now use it, trade and and hold it if you want but the reserve bank of India warned all the banks from India to stop dealing with the crypto related services,but still many banks are providing services to crypto exchanges so we need to wait for the official announcement from the governments.
But someone filed case against this issue in supreme court of India so the decision may take time and also the government will in the favour of people if more people support crypto currencies.And also they opened an online petition against the reserve bank of India if you want the bitcoin to stay in India then you also show your support.

And what link you have provided?I can only see a picture of beach in that. ::)

It is not illegal, but banks have been asked not to provide services to cryptoexchanges. Theoretically, you can still buy bitcoins using cash. It is not a crime. And it definitely is not illegal to hold bitcoins.
You must understand that the cutting of banking links to exchanges has come from the central bank (RBI). The government has not come out with its stance on Bitcoin yet.

Yes,RBI has the power to only restrict the banks from involving crypto currencies so we have other options as well to buy and sell the crypto currencies only we need conclusion from the governments for illegal or not.

If you can pay proper tax on your income than it would be legal in India because RBI guideline is not clear on crypocurrency.

Yes,this is one of the reason that most of the countries are against the crypto currencies.And I have read somewhere that India is one of the mostly corrupted country with black money so RBI thinks that people can use bitcoin to launder their money.But if we all can pay our taxes proprly then the condition may change too. :)

It is not in the hands of the citizens to pay tax from  bitcoin profit but whether the India government has made regulations to collect such but if that isn't available in the first place, it means the government is not looking on that. But, if it is even banned, I don't think that will totally stop it, it can only make the transaction difficult.

For now India is prohibiting or assuming crypto is illegal, but I hope it will not happen forever, and for the people of India there is still a solution to use foreign markets.

It is rather not banned in this country.

Bitcoin is neither legal nor banned in India. Just RBI announced that close the account of poeple who done transaction using bitcoin. But many people in india now using bitcoin as their main income. Many local exchanges now opened and trade the bitcoin. To buy and sell many trading exchanges now opened in India. But there is a serious discussion is going on about launch of new coin.

Till now bitcoin is legal in India. RBI just announced the close the account of the people who deals with crytocurrencies . And they give some time to do this process. But still people in India using bitcoin as their main income. It is not completely banned just  banks to close the transaction only. Indian government has planned to launch its own cryptocurrency. So serious discussion is going on about legalization of crypto in India.This process takes some time not done immediately. So in future bitcoin will be legal in india.

I had read in crypto news , bitcoin is going to regulate in a india.The government of India had a plan to get some tax from the people.
Please check the below link

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjTtaroH2R3/

They are going to collect 18% of tax from the people.They had a plan to implement this scheme from July 1 onwards.
This may increase the price of bitcoin.

You can still hold or buy bitcoin through few possible exchanges though it's not yet announced as legal or illegal. As long as the action you take does not harm you,  you can very well proceed though. I am sure India will surely realise the benefits of adapting bitcoin and adapt it very soon. RBI has set up a team to analyze if crypto currencies are really needed or not in India and most probably by end of June or July, they would come up with good decision which will certainly enrich Indian economy with crypto adaption. Hopefully waiting for it.

Formally NO, just as it is illegal in many countries but we still do our thing,foreign markets still make transactions in India, the government even warned the banks to close the accounts of those who do transaction with cryptocurrency, but we had that there is a close door meeting were they are thinking on how to legalize cryptocurrency, i think we should be patient and see what will come out of it.

In India bitcoin is still legal not announced as illegal. The RBI of Indian government announced that close the account of the people who deals transaction with cryptocurrency. And India has an idea of introduce its own coin. It shows India accept crytocurrency and not ready to ban. If it comes automatically India will support other cryptocurrencies also.

Bitcoin is not yet legalized and not yet illegalized. RBI recently had announced to its entities not to have transactions and not move with its exchanges. The supreme court has given time till July 2018 to Exchanges to come with solutions. Hoping for a positive turn over from RBI, Exchanges and from Supreme Court. They will announce by end of this month. Lets see what happens.

Bitcoin is still legal in india it is not ilegalized. People in india are using bitcoin as their main income. Just RBI announced that cancel the account of the people who made transactions for bitcoin. They warn the exchanges and give some time. But hope in india it will not be considered as illegal. Because indian government planned to decide create its own cryptocurrency.

Expect India should be one of the countries accepting bitcoin legally in the country which will in trun grow its economy and its citizens employment and their personal growth. RBI did come up with few regulations which contradicted the exchanges causing to take RBI to supreme court. The court has announced that the exchanges would come up with changes/decisions by end of July 2018. There are chances for legalizing bitcoin. Just heard of a business man coming up with his own crypto coin. So these are good signs that the govt would allow.

I watched a video in which Indian prime minister talk about bitcoin and the value of digital currency. May be he know the wealth of crypto

I guess it's not just happening in India but most in the other countries too though some of them banned bitcoin and some may say illegal but not yet legal due to some security purposes. If Indian country would release an update about of legalizing bitcoin in their country through the help of new regulations by putting a tax on it.

Being a citizen and resident of India, I can say that the possession and trading of Bitcoin is not de jure illegal in India. That said, the government of India has adopted a very hostile stance towards the crypto-currencies and the crypto-users over the years.

Still they didn't make any stance about the crypto currencies because most of the politicians were uneducated so they may not aware of the existence of bitcoin even. :D

But I hope that they will make it legal since India is one of the countries where the crypto countries were traded most so they can increase their revenue of their country by imposing tax on them.

It will happen once they believe have found a way to properly control the centralized crypto ecosystem, and for sure know that the benefits are actually benefits and don't have any negative long term consequences. India is a large market, but we don't depend on them to open up or not. We have pretty easily discarded China, which initially was thought to be a massive player, but after their manipulation was put to a stop, they weren't all that big. We'll see how things play out with both China and India, but it's only a matter of time. They have to adapt in order to not let their neighbour countries swallow all innovation and extra job creation that it brings.

provided there is no law that bans bitcoin in India, it can not be considered illegal. India government only warned banks not to carry out bank transaction with bitcoin but bitcoin holders are using international market for their transaction.

So far, India has not per say voiced the legality of Bitcoin. On the contrary, it seems to take it as an opportunity for the country's development and in fact it seems to encourage this notion by introducing a coin of its own or at least that's what's been stated lately.

It's not illegal. They did restrict their domestic Banks from dealing with crypto but even their own RBI ( The Reserve Bank of India) are even exploring on creating their own digital currency. They are not making it illegal in order for them to have a chance of creating their own coin while stymieing other coin growth in their country.

India really has not opened yet for crypto because they are still traumatized with some illicit acts committed against crypto users such as killing and others so they still can not open crypto in their country.

Recent news no RBI restricting its entities from entertaining Indians have crypto transactions has provoked many exchanges and it lead to appeal with the supreme court. Hoping to hear a positive decision on legalizing bitcoin in India after current three months' analyzing period on whether to proceed with legalizing. I am sure it would turn back positive as a business celebrity is working on launching his own crypto currency.  The business celebrity and the government are so close and certainly the new coin from India will be realeased.

Expecting every country should soon adapt bitcoin legalizing it. I am sure when bitcoin hits $20k again in this year 4th quarter, jiocoin would pitch in. The team would at least screen out their roadmap. The price would again become the main play to every investor and to every we ICO. So hope this second half satisfies all who invested with good turn over.

It's actually not illegal to hold, trade or just use bitcoin in general within India.

In fact, it shouldn't even be illegal to conduct business with a bitcoin exchange. As long as the exchange is offering the service to you, and there is a bank that is facilitating the withdrawals, there shouldn't be any legal issues with this.

To my understanding though, there are bans put over banks within India to prevent them from dealing with exchanges, which essentially means that a lot of exchanges will go out of business. You're still able to trade, you just have to trade p2p since most exchanges relied on banks to facilitate their fiat transactions.

i think It will never be a legal tender but that doesn’t mean it is illegal.I think govt is smart enough not to ban it.Crypto people are more than ready to pay taxes on it.

yes it is true this is still a pro and cons in India there are some agencies that are supportive and there are also agencies that are refused but for now is still not legal at all because there are still some things to consider.

As far as I know BTC has been legalized in India

No, bitcoin is not illegal in India, it's legal. Although India's central bank, Reserve Bank of India has announced a ban on the sale or purchase of crypto-currency, the usage of bitcoin is legal.

"Finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech on 1 February 2018, stated that the government will do everything to discontinue the use of bitcoin and other virtual currencies in India for criminal uses. He reiterated that India does not recognize them as legal tender and will instead encourage blockchain technology in payment systems." Source:  https://qz.com/1195316/budget-2018-busts-bitcoin-arun-jaitley-has-just-killed-indias-cryptocurrency-party/

Four more petitions to be heard on July 20 from exchanges. Though the earlier decision is dis-satisfactory, exchanges have found and still working on finding ways to have crypto transaction not disturbing banks tied up with RBI. An exchange has recently announced a P2P system where crypto to crypto exchange can be done. 90 percent of customers from exchanges that are in dealing with in India, have strong hope to continue with crypto trading besides RBI announcement which firms the belief in crypto currencies.

In India bitcoin is neither legal nor illegal. RBI announced the peer to peer transaction. But still people in india are using bitcoin as legal. But we cannot purchase anything through bitcoin, for that you have to use local fiat only. Indian government have a plan to introduce their own coin, if it happens bitcoin also legal. Now in india bitcoin investors are more so they never to allow bitcoin to announce as illegal.

I would not say that the crypto currency is illegal in India. Recently, the Supreme Court of India has indicated that, under the current Indian law, a crypto currency can not be considered a currency. However, this does not mean anything. Bitcoin and other crypto currency were not banned in this country. The legislature of India has not yet expressed its opinion on this matter. Therefore, we will expect further news from India.

Its not yet announced to be legal. The RBI has pressured too much on the exchanges dealing with crypto currencies not to engage customer trade through the banks tied up with RBI. Hope the final decision do not affect customers trading on Indian exchanges who are dealing with it. A long waiting should get soon over and crypto should be legalized in India and more get benefited.

and this will take a long time because the Indian government is more cautious and considering the laws of the country there according to the Supreme Court of India so if this is too long it will adversely affect the development of cryptos there

It's not illegal, nor is it illegal to hold or trade with bitcoin at all.

I don't even think that it's illegal for banks to continue to offer services to bitcoin exchanges. However, they will obviously be facing scrutiny and probably delicensing from the central bank of India (RBI) which is something that they wouldn't want to ever do.

The thing is that this isn't law, this is a regulation from the RBI. It doesn't mean that bitcoin is all of a sudden outlawed.

That's why you still see buy/sell listings on LBC and elsewhere, because bitcoin is still fully legal in India. The government is still obviously anti-bitcoin, though, that's for sure.

Hence, trading p2p with bitcoin for cash on platforms such as LBC and paxful will be a growing trend in India as a result, in my opinion, because of the regulation.

In India still bitcoin is legal, people are investing in bitcoin. The RBI put some rules to traders only, RBI announced traders not to use transactions via bank to exchange the bitcoin or buy. Now another method they used p2p for transaction process. So bitcoin is still legal in india and it is not banned. Due to this law traders only affected and not the people. Soon bitcoin is fully including traders also will be legal in india. But we have to waitbfor some time for this change.

Sorry, the link you provided is not working in my end, but according to this source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory), the status of Bitcoin in India is Legal, however, the sale or purchase of cryptocurrency is banned as announced by the Reserve Bank of India.

Yes it is true that crypto is illegal in Indi

The situation in India with the crypto currency is quite complicated, but it is practically free to go to the territory of this country. So far, only the Reserve Bank of India and its subordinated banks do not conduct any operations with the crypto currency. However, the circulation of crypto currency is not prohibited in the country. While legislators and the government did not express their opinion on the crypto currency, and the need for this has long been ripe.

It is funny on how the Indian Government is still allowing cryptocurrencies to be held in their country yet the citizens are not allowed to use it as a mode of payment although they allow it to be traded. Another problem is they made a memorandum on prohibiting online bank transfers coming from exchanges to banks. So they have eliminated the most convenient way of liquidating your cryptocurrency holdings to Fiat besides third party sellers. The way I see it is their Central Bank, RBI, is headed by a not so open-minded person and the executive government is not doing any action to solve it that is why it lead to their current situation.

I got the Google news pop up says the bitcoin regulations implemented by the Reserve financial system is legally not used the bitcoin in their country and even court also seems also support government to take not right towards bitcoin.
I advice to the investors from India please do not loose the hope it will be remain same and cannot be able to stop from using it mate.

Could you please cite your reference? The usage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in India is Legal, although India does not recognize them as legal tender and they can be used in payment systems. What is illegal in India is banned in India is the sale or purchase of cryptocurrency. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country

Crypto is illegal in india.you Connor use crypto currencies also a sum of payment in buying products.

There's something like cunningly done, Crypto currency is prohibited, but taxes must be paid to those who sell it!

You can make it easier, just sell the crypt in the Maldives.

The status of Bitcoin in India is quite vague. A few days back I had been reading this buzzing update from RBI, central bank of the country, which reads here: https://www.thebetterindia.com/149147/rbi-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-bank-trading-ban-news/

Now the position of bitcoin in Indian market seems to be in danger with this highlight from the market:-

Speaking at the panel on Scaling and Digital Disruption in Fintech, the Vice President of Product at Ripple, Asheesh Birla said that Ripple could win 50 percent of the Indian market with the company focused on the financial sector of the world’s second fastest growing economy.

He said: “We looked early on at India, and we looked at two billion people – a huge market. And we decided, how do you get two billion people onto Ripple? Do we give the currency away to every Indian, that’s like two billion – just give it away?"

Ripple is targeting the emerging economies with India predicted to become an economic ‘superpower’ by 2030 according to a US intelligence report.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/987173/Bitcoin-price-ripple-india-cryptocurrency-ethereum-BTC-to-USD-XRP-news

As an investor i would always find alternative ways to multiply my capital even there are restriction on few things. The issue here is, transactions on crypto currencies should be not be through the banks tied up with RBI. I dont find any other restriction in moving forward with alternative options in trading crypto  currencies. The exchanges have found ways to have transactions without banking intervention. So there may be a bit hesitation in carrying on with current rules with RBI but once everyone would get aware of alternative ways to trade and become confident, then yes there wont be a problem with crypto trading in India.

It is not confirmed yet.A temporary stay has been imposed on the exchanges that work with digital currencies due to the case filed by RBI against these exchanges.This stay is until the next hearing i.e on 20th of July.On 20th of July we will get to know about the future of Bitcoin in India.If these exchanges won the case then people will be able to work with Bitcoin but if RBI won the case then according to me it will be an end to Bitcoin in India.So let's wait for the day.

Bitcoin has not been legalized in India yet, but it is not forbidden. Any normative legal acts that would determine its status or the rules of circulation were not published in this country. Legislative and executive authorities are still silent. In India, banks are still issuing their prohibitions, but they apply only to the banking sphere of activity. Thus, the Reserve Bank of India as a central bank issued an order to its banks, which ordered not to provide services in the crypto currency, including in relations with the crypto-exchange markets. However, bitcoin and other crypto currency are still freely circulating in this country.