Bitcoin Forum

 December last year, the government had set up a panel headed by Garg to examine a framework for regulating crypto currencies. Other members of the panel include Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman Ajay Tyagi and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor BP Kanungo.

The committee is likely to submit its report by December, defining the broad contours of a regulatory framework for crypto assets and virtual currencies.

The panel is in the last stages of deliberation and will come out with the government’s approach covering the entire spectrum.

The government is of the view that unregulated crypto assets should not be allowed to move into the financial system. The Garg-panel is likely to recommend appropriate amendments in existing laws, defining the punitive measures for those found holding illegal crypto assets.

News source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/holding-unregulated-crypto-assets-like-bitcoin-in-india-could-attract-punishment-3047991.html

Banking ban has already weakened the crypto scene in India and the court trial is getting delayed every single time. Now if they start taking punitive actions, it will put the last nail on the coffin of cryptos in India!

What ways can we take if such useless bills become a law in December? Any thoughts??

If it becomes a law, this amounts to full fledged banning. And on top of this, they are mulling enforcing a state-backed crypto: https://qz.com/india/1418897/after-strangling-bitcoin-india-may-launch-its-own-cryptocurrency/
While they keep calling it crypto, it will probably be a CBDC which is basically fiat in digital form. And the panel which set out to "study and research" crypto's effects in India constitutes RBI, SEBI and Ministry of Finance officials. All 3 bodies have been anti-crypto from the start. Not sure if Govt enforces a crackdown, there is much that can be done except for an appeal to the Supreme Court. Though, even that seems like a losing battle considering the petition filed by crypto exchanges against the banking ban is still awaiting a hearing date from the Court after the last set of hearings got over several weeks back.

We can't afford to be left behind. Again. I remember commenting on this thread earlier this year about Kazakhstan banning crypto (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3232750) without even realising that we could be in their shoes before the year ends  :'(

I think the cryptosphere, in general, will also lose out if a billion people are suddenly cut out of crypto completely. Other countries could take cue from this and start banning crypto too. This is now everybody's battle and should raise a hue and cry across the world.

This step is not very practical and there are millions of crypto users in India. Are they going to jail all of them? If the government goes ahead with something like this, then they will face a lot of outcry from the public as well.

It wasn't very practical to demonetise high denomination notes thus boning a large amount of the population up the chocolate whizzway. They did it anyway. Since they didn't flinch at the idea of doing that I see no reason why they wouldn't do this too.

Maybe they won't ban the cryptos in the near future because in India there will be parliament election in the next year so normally the ruling parties won't take any negative decisions at this time which means the decision from the government about cryptos maybe will be in pending until the election results announced.

1. Cryptocurrencies cannot be use as payment method and is only meant for trading
2. Banks are prohibited to entertain cryptocurrency related transactions with their local exchanges
3. Attempting to screen cryptocurrencies and block unregulated ones

It looks like my suspicions are right after all, they are clearing the way in their market as India also plans to have their own state-issued cryptocurrency (https://qz.com/india/1418897/after-strangling-bitcoin-india-may-launch-its-own-cryptocurrency/). The RBI is actually shaping the cryptocurrency scene in their country hoping for their own cryptocurrency to thrive in the market with no competition. But the way I see it is they are making their market less appealing to investors so I do hope their plan will backfire towards them.

A lot of people in India using bitcoin, even here there are some people here that comes from India but they are still working just to hunt crypto as well, I think their government has nothing to do on this situation because people keep using bitcoin just like trading on investing. So what crypto there that regulated? But I think that is the same crypto regulated to them or unregulated.

The most realistic scenario is that governments in general take a snapshot of their current financial system, and create one crypto/token for every fiat unit in circulation. It's basically a tokenized form of fiat money, but one that offer more usability for their economy, but directly also more power to the state.

India has been hammering down on anything it doesn't like in the last decades, so it's not something purely related to crypto currencies. In the end, we can only fall back on rumors and vague articles claiming that India is going to do this or that; we will only find out what they are up to once they finally announce it themselves and actually turn words into action.

In the end, India isn't very different from China in the way that they are trying to scare off the mass; they know they can't stop everyone, but if they can keep 75% of their population in check it's more than worthwhile for them. The other 25% can't be stopped no matter what you do.

Banning crypto is not like banning old banknotes. It is much more complex. First of all, you can't exchange Indian banknotes without the permission of the government as it is the central bank that issues them. So if you hold on to your banknotes after a certain date, they will become worthless. The case with crypto is different. It will not become worthless if the Indian government bans it.

crypto won't become worthless, but the government can introduce huge fines for individuals
and exchanges in India won't process any transactions , also their banks will not allow conversions
so it is pretty much possible to make life very difficult for cryptousers in India
but once again, this has been dragging for at least a year, there is no definite decision on the cryptocurrencies
the hearing has been postponed, the government is sitting on the fence as to  ban it, regulate it or introduce its own cryptocurrency

I too believe that the step is not practical in any way, but it is still at a drafting stage and nothing has been finalized yet! But there may be no imprisonment involved. They will probably suggest for hefty fines and confiscation of unregulated assets, nothing more!


I really hope so but the issue is that the crypto community is very small in size here! That won't make any impact to the election result. The current ruling government is busy with religious matters and trying to create unrest within the "yet to be conquered" states! So banning crypto will not be a problem for them due to the small size of the community in India.

Maybe that's the end goal. Thinking about cryptocurrency confiscation reminds me of the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, where private possession of gold was outlawed and US gold investors were forced to sell it to the Treasury.

Not a bad way to build national Bitcoin/cryptocurrency reserves, if you think about it.

The most interesting aspect of these discussions is that we westerners think we know everything (because everything we read is true, duhh) while I never see anyone from India or China actually explain the situation.

It may be that it's heavily being discussed in their native language on this forum, but it would be a welcome change for once to have some valuable input on these subjects from people who actually live there.

The situation around India and Russia hasn't changed much in the last couple of years. It's always we're planning to do this or that, but nothing ends up happening. I rather see them do something to back up their claims.

China at least turned words into deeds. It didn't work out in our favor, but they at least came in action.

The OP is apparently from India and was asking for our opinions...

I doubt there's much to explain as the law hasn't been amended and there are few official statements in the media. The government is apparently waiting for an RBI report on digital currencies to be released before doing anything.

Correct! I am indeed from India and really worried about the future of cryptos in my country. Even though nothing has been officially announced but the government doesn't seems to be positive towards cryptos. While a court case is ongoing, SEBI and RBI (Regulators of stock market and Banking system) was asked to produce their view on cryptos by the court. The government is awaiting those responses from these regulators and in the meantime, asked the Law Commission to prepare a draft which can be produced later on.

The things can take positive direction, but the chance for negative direction is much more prominent! 

I mean, they may for sure pass this bill somehow. Not surprising with the climate in which cryptos are already currently existing in India right now.

But the thing is, they don't have any enforceability.

They could try take down the holding of unregulated crypto assets, and since they're not actively regulating any one that I know of, pretty much all decentralised cryptocurrencies are going to be under this umbrella. But how will they ever persecute people for holding these assets? It's simply not feasible, they could take away the exchanges but P2P trading will still be present. They're much better off regulating the scene instead of trying to ban everything.

negative approach is more than likely
especially seeing the news like this: https://cointelegraph.com/news/police-arrest-indian-crypto-exchange-co-founder-for-unregistered-illegal-bitcoin-atm
they arrested him for setting up a "not licenced bitcoin ATM" , speaks volumes about how crypto friendly the government is at the moment
although they can always make an u-turn , it is not decided just yet
I heard rumours  that some states are researching blockchain based methods of payments and even eyeing their own crypto currencies

We cant really say that it would go negative all the way which theres still a chance since they are still on neutral side.I agree on the fact that anytime they can make a u-turn
towards on possible decisions that they would made as long as they pleases.

You cant really say to be positive if you would able to hear up these kind of headlines.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrency-illegal-in-india-says-trade-organization-head

How and why? Just don't talk about it anywhere and use vpn. You are just holding in long term and not trading.

This will be good so that people or the community will not be able to get into scam crypto that are now in the phase of collecting funds. Just take and example about the team working on ETHL that scam everyone who invested in the project. They were not lucky because team had dissappeared together with their money.

So how do you supposed to cash that out? If you are looking to cash out big then you will be living a lot of footprints behind you and almost certainly you will be caught doing that. Cashing it out outside of your country is not an option as well, what will you answer when you returned richer in your country without providing any kind of proof to them? Of course you have no choice but to tell them the truth that it came from cryptocurrencies.

I'm more furious about their regulations in India as they are evidently making it hard for their citizens to make cryptocurrencies useful in their country. Its like they are just making it look like cryptos are allowed in their country yet the truth is it is really impossible to earn and live freely with it.

With the attitude with which the Indian government currently has towards crypto, I think that there is virtually no "regulated" crypto asset that is available for investors.

Unless a country is actually actively trying to regulate the crypto scene, they shouldn't restrict people from investing in what they want, even if it may not be regulated. India is definitely not on the track of positive regulation yet, but instead, they are trying to eradicate decentralized crypto altogether (hopefully this changes after the report was handed to the government.

But honestly, who's going to follow this? Most crypto investors probably won't even be aware of this. The enforceability of this, as well as the current ongoing bitcoin ban, is and will be extremely questionable if they were actually serious with going ahead these policies, imho.

Holding unregulated crypto is just like engaging in scam ICO or any Crypto in which the integrity is in question. I see this is a normal standard operating procedure for any government to look upon the welfare of their people specially if their hard earned money is at stake. So this is better than banning the whole crypto market specially Bitcoin.

So what crypto are you holding now? And why are you here if you wish to ban the entire crypto market especially Bitcoin that leads some crypto prices movement. There's only one regulated crypto I had ever known XRP if I don't have mistaken, the rest are unregulated cryptocurrency. If that really happens in India, there are thousands or millions of holders inf crypto should outcry to their government. But still, they can hide since crypto holder can able to be anonymous.

Not even government of India taking care into this,so the crypto market is not much serious in India yet even though there were lot of Indians are crypto investors and traders.Poor country management making each and every things complicated so we need to wait and see how many year they are going to regulate the crypto currencies.

But I see there aren't many coins that are given rules? What if it's a good coin but isn't regulated? yeah it can have a positive effect because you can avoid shit coins, but the negative is you will leave a lot of potential other small coins that are unregulated

Would the country ever consider working with compliance companies like ciphertrace to help with with this? It would be a shame to rule out an entire country that could really benefit from the use of cryptocurrencies worldwide

I think the problem is that the government is not yet convinced of the use, benefits and advantages that cryptocurrency can do for the country so they are delaying any request or move to have it recognized and legalized. Until then, it can be hard for anyone owning a digital asset because of the possible threat from authorities, of course except if you are really moneyed because you can work agencies outside of the country to buy cryptocurrencies for you. In essence, the government is holding their people to participate in this new revolution and a new tool in wealth creation though we also have to understand that many of the concerns of the government have basis.

The main issue in India is their beaurocratic nature of governance! Where an age old beaurocrat who is almost at the verge of retirement, is given a task to understand crypto and provide recommendations to the ministry. That's where the problem belongs to!

India should really adopt to the mass voting model that is there in Australia or EU. This way the government can understand what people really want! But Indian government is not really in a mood to understand the need of the mass.

This isnt only happening in india but it do also happen on other countries that restricts or ban cryptocurrency and its only xrp or centralized coins that is affected but even bitcoins and other cryptos they are also all affected  .

An ico is regulated but not all cryptos are regulated  . However if the country restricts ico or crypto , regulation shouldnt be question anymore

There's a lot of news circulating around the community like this one:

(https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-india-anti-crypto-bill-imprisonment)


So I really don't know if this is fake news or not, but it worries me that the bill proposal carry a penalty of a 10-year prison sentence, WTF is that? I think that is too harsh for even owning Bitcoin. The article also says that it coincidence with the "launch its own state-backed cryptocurrency – the Digital Rupee". They the Indian government heed the call of their people here, or just decided they wanted a full ban and strict penalties for those who will be caught.

^^^ There are more than a million active Bitcoin users in India (including approx. 150,000 regular crypto-traders). I don't think that it will be practical for the government to arrest all of them (the total prison population in India right now is 450,000). At the most, they may arrest a few high profile traders and use this incident to frighten the others.

Still the decision of government is same,undecided.But there are lot of rumors were circulated all around that forum that holding cryptos is a no bailable crime in India.

But it is like fake rumor created for the purpose of brind down the crypto prices.

It is quite clear from the government stand in last couple of years which they have clearly stated that they are not in favor and do not encourage the people to use it. this is clear indication that they are not going to make it legal in the country.

They don't have to make it legal. I think in the long run their anti crypto stance will do Bitcoin extremely well because people will have more incentive to go local, and that's where they lose all the control.

You can't scare off people with harsh enough penalties in an attempt to have them stop using it. We have seen how effective anti drug penalties are.... Fighting against something so innocent as crypto will have even less of an effect.

People don't want to miss out on the gains and Bitcoin offers an exceptional store of value feature where wealth is stored outside the banking system. What more can people wish for?

You said it precisely, the retired bureaucrats usually over look these drafts and conduct the study which they do not have any idea what they are doing and then they will compile a report on hear say basis, there is no transparency on who they consulted to learn and understand about the market, it is a democratic country but majority of the things are done like a dictatorship without any transparency. Mass voting system should be adopted in the worlds largest democracy but the political system will do everything on their power to stop that and that is the state of the country.

There's no final decision yet it's still a draft and would not likely pass into law there's strong opposition on this law, not only on India but on many crypto communities, we cannot let this law pass, this is a bad precedent and a real threat against human rights, but it's on our Indian brothers there to voice their concern and opposition.

This makes sense. If you would remember, there are some articles back then which states that Satoshi Nakamoto are just a representation of the one who makes bitcoin but is actually a group of Indian people. It can also be true though since they have the capability to do it. If they can make a cryptocoin then im sure they will soon launch their own cryptocurrency.