Bitcoin Forum

After a stressful and fearful trial at the Indian Supreme Court, India officially admitted that Bitcoins and other cryptographic assets are not illegal..

Read the full article on https://blocktoq.com/crypto-news/cryptocurrencies-have-won-with-court-in-india-for-how-long/

Don't they already have regulations against bitcoins, pretty much dissuading people from using them? You think this ruling could relax rules? From what I know the exchanges in India (or what remains of them) all practice KYC and other proper bookkeeping so the excuse of it being used to launder money really don't have any basis.

Still uncertain how this could develop but India is a potentially large market so it would be a big boost for cryptos if people there become free to buy and sell as they wish.

What is the government stand on bitcoin before the ruling is what will be considered first. Is the India constitution explicitly against bitcoin or was it not mentioned at all.
Hence, if it was not declared as illegal then the court has no choice than to rule in that way because the court won't go against the constitution .

Interesting enough to know if they'll start to discuss cryptocurrencies in their govs.
Because "not illegal" status is not enough to do crypto taxations for instance

Bitcoin was never illegal in India but rather there were threats from bankers and other authorities who were discouraging the use of bitcoin and other crypto currencies and a friend of mine even got notice from the income tax department for huge BTC transaction through a centralized exchange but still bitcoin is widely used here and even if government openly declares bitcoin illegal still people will find one or the other way to use it. Government cannot ban something which they don't have control over.

Yes, they do. It's hard for a lot of people to liquidate their bitcoins, as the number of exchanges there are rare. This is mostly due to it being very hard to get a legitimate license and be able to operate in India, which is why a lot of people just prefer to trade P2P.

The battle has been won, but not the war for sure. I am certain that a lot of the bankers and government will continue discouraging the use of crypto-currencies, and the lack of services due to hold that India has on the market is not good for anything.

It is not easy to legalize cryptocurrencies in a country that already has a standard record. Actually, everyone in the world has recognized that these cryptocurrencies have many positive things when compared to real currencies. But it is not easy to change the economic system by including cryptocurrencies in everyday life as a substitute for currency. India is among the top 5 countries with the highest population in the world. To include the understanding that cryptocurrenccies in their lives in the sense of legalizing is not an easy thing to do. Even though it is only limited to assets / investments, it can only be done by a handful of people. How come China can? because the Chinese government system with India is clearly different.

governments like Indian government is always going to push back against bitcoin adoption and will continue trying to slow it down as much as they can because they see it as a threat to their corrupted banking system in place and are afraid that people may no longer need their system if they adopt bitcoin and that threatens their power.
the thing is that all they can ever do is to "slow down" the eventual demise of their corruption not prevent it.

Good news.I'm not familiar with India,but AFAIK the Indian central bank (and the government) are anti-bitcoin and anti-crypto,while the Supreme court says that using cryptocurrencies isn't illegal.Let's hope that India is a democratic state and the Supreme court will stay independent.I'm sure that the government will apply some pressure over the Supreme court in the near future,which is bad.I hope that India won't become a country ruled by some authoritarian regime that has control over the courts.

This is a positive development from one of the world's most populous countries. This is going to become a breather from millions of people in India who are supposed to be fighting for the adoption of crypto or Bitcoin in their technologically growing country. But I guess this is not yet firm and final just like the previous ruling which made crypto illegal in the Indian jurisdiction. The rules seem to be flip flopping at this stage. This is apparently a battle between policy-makers. 

India as a country has a really bad corrupted system filled with bribes and scams. For most of the time government officials tend to receive bribes and would probably work in favor of scammers as well. This was the case with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. If a scammer tends to steal bitcoin from a legit citizen, the government and police would turn the case in favor of the guilty and would probably support them.

On top of that the government is trying to develop virtual currencies backed by major Indian companies and probably the removal of these restrictions might reflect that as well. Apart from that the implementation of this restrictions on banks right back in April 2018 was to destroy the bitcoin market and to prevent banking from dealing with bitcoin. These adverse situations arises probably due to the lack of education which the government officials have on the technology.

Government have different definition of cryptocurrency. They allow and accept the one that's regulated and traced by government bodies. XRP wont find any issue in getting accepted by government bodies but decentralized bitcoin surely wont be affected by government.

Seems like pretty good news for India. Although this could just be pretty much said the backbone of the crypto scene in the country. The Crypto scene still has a lot of work cutout for them in there. There was an opposition towards the crypto scene after all, so I'd expect some more to follow up in the near future, even though at the current moment, crypto is free to move all over the country. Could be a chance for famous exchanges to build another branch in the country though, since the country could be said to be fresh for the taking.

These questions come up all the time, and my answer to them is always going to stay the same. They're going to win until the banks notice that bitcoin can disrupt them and can remove their monetary control. At that point, regulators and banks are going to issue some pretty crazy laws regarding Bitcoin to try to kill it. And honestly, it will probably kill the price of Bitcoin if something like this was to happen -- I don't think it would kill the usage of it in the country, but the price would take a hit as retail investors would be scared.

Think of if the US was to issue a EO or pass a law regarding the banning of Bitcoin. People would freak the fuck out and sell cause a good amount of 'usage' in this space if just speculation by people who want to get rich. Nothing against Bitcoin, but when people see something go from pennies to 20000 in the course of a couple years, the gamblers typically come out to play.

since bitcoin is not illegal in India, the Indian government should create laws pertaining to cryptocurrency if there is non. it's for their own benefits. I'm also wondering if for the last years, have you seen what could be the side of the government to cypto. Are they just gonna accept crypto and not going to be strict about it? It's your government, you should know what could be the possible impact of this to your country.

I'm guessing they are still adopting a wait and see attitude. So far, only a few countries look favorably upon Crypto (and that favorably is them agreeing about its existence inside their country). I doubt the people who let it go would become impossibly strict, but it would still impose laws and the like to limit what crypto could originally do without any limits.

Also, India wouldn't hurry an adoption imo. Just looking at how the fight against crypto was rised upon, some still don't look favorably upon it. Yes, its allowed to exist, but anything other than that may impose upon their limits and might just ignite another fight about it again.

It is basically one way of saying "bitcoin is not against the law, but its also frowned upon and disliked by the government". Nobody can throw you in jail for having bitcoin, hell there was a whole topic about how India will ban it totally but didn't, yet that doesn't really mean they will just make it legal and support it suddenly. In the world of laws, "not illegal" doesn't really equal to "legal" at all times, there are stuff in between those levels.

Just to give an example (made up and overblown) you could have bitcoin in your wallet as an Indian and they could make life horrible for you, first sue you, then trial you, then hold your money meanwhile, do everything in their power to make sure you hate the day you ever got into bitcoin, but decide that nothing is wrong and let you go. You got absolutely nothing charged against you in that case but life turned upside down which is done to stop you.

I guess someone from India already said this quote before.


It's more of the banks that are against crypto because they are seeing the potential threat and opponent of their business. But if this news is true, we have to see it from another viable source and coming from the central bank, they've said that they didn't even ban crypto as per this article from cointelegraph.

India Central Bank Says It Hasn’t Banned Crypto (https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-central-bank-says-it-hasnt-banned-crypto)

This is a long battle ahead, it's good to hear that India's Supreme Court ruled that crypto graphics assets are not illegal per se, but I'm still not confident that the government will soften its stance specially against BTC. They know that with bitcoin, control will be very hard, plus India is one of the most corrupt nation. So there will be government officials who will opposed at all cost because they know they can't make money anymore if people started to use crypto's.

Instead for India to implement a total ban I think its better if they regulate the space seriously and not classifying crypto as illegal. I doubt their celtral banks are doing their homework, total ban is very unprofessional and only hermit countries are doing it.

It's good news and another step toward Bitcoin going mainstream in the eyes of the world.  These are the kinds of smalls steps that are going to result in but gains in the future.

How is this a win when it essentially just retains the current status quo?

Indians still risk having their bank accounts closed by dealing with crypto, and crypto companies are still shunned by the traditional financial system. I mean, crypto should be able to stand by itself, but we're not quite there yet. Not having active bank accounts leave you stuck outside a wall of red tape. They know this, and they're stopping just short of an official ban so it can't be questioned.


They're simply playing with semantics here. It's not a ban, but handling crypto will lead to denial of services. At the end of the day, you still can't use crypto and at the same time participate with the traditional financial system. That's like private establishments saying they don't ban firearms but you can't come to the store with one.

India has been known as one of the good IT, developers, blockchain creators so I know that cryptocurrency will be with them.

It's really a great news in India as well as in the crypto world that almost every government had seek the potential of crypto in the future, so they have given this chances for us to freely do our own future money.

P2P probably sucks for those that need to get large amounts of cash out since the btc buyers will have to withdraw that money from the bank first and we know banks do watch large transactions carefully.

I just found it weird that India had this restrictions while many countries in Asia are a bit more relaxed in comparison. I think this had more to do with lobbyists rather than just the government.

Court hearings on India goes on and on, the hearing related to cryptocurrency might have taken place for atleast few years time. They won't get into a conclusion, years back India didn't had anything regulated or anything banned. Upon the same people were free to use cryptocurrencies, later they just imposed some bans and further after court hearings now it looks like a positive news for the cryptocurrency users from India.

Maybe this too can get paused within a short when government go further for an appeal. Anyhow a change in a country like India will have big influence over the global market.

Indian government is an headache they can't really decide what to do with the new technology. They look interested with its benefits but they're to scared to use it because of its volatility. Maybe, they're still scratching their heads how to exploit the country with these new form of payment along with the feature of anonymity.

This judgement is not helpful because it fails to direct banks to accept money arising from the sale or purchase of bitcoins. Secondly it doesn’t even clarify how one will show bitcoins in their tax files, therefore people will not be keen to buy bitcoins without getting more clarity.

Even before the regular exchanges were forced to shut down because the RBI restricted the banking sector to do business with the crypto exchanges they are complying with strict KYC and AML rules for every user. There is no excuse for indirectly shutting down the market but that does not deter crypto investors as there are other means to purchase the coins.

Even with all the restrictions people are still buying bitcoin without much hassle as the entire industry move to P2P based model and there is no regulation or restriction on that model. So basically nothing changed, they just need to move away from one exchange to another :D.

I mean, they don't have the sufficient evidences to prosecute bitcoin in the first place which is puzzling. I guess authorities will really use everything they can in power just to stop bitcoin from being widespread and put the power to the consumer's hands. Fortunately, bitcoin already set it's roots up and it'll only be time before bitcoin becomes widely accepted worldwide.

It is a great news, indeed. I don't think this legalization will go opposite. They got nothing to be against with, and once they decided to change their decision once again this circumstances will be bombarded by questions. Besides they don't need to ban it, regulation is enough so that opportunity won't be wasted.

indeed basically everyone buys bitcoin just to be able to get profit, whereas bitcoin for their development will only use technology owned by bitcoin, whereas if bitcoin is used for payment methods it will be very difficult to happen because the price will definitely not be stable and there will be manipulation of prices will make the transaction a profit and loss with a very fast time, and in India I see cryptocurrency seems still difficult to use because the government also prohibits the use of cryptocurrency as a payment.

Its a good development that should be celebrated in that part of the world because even though it does not answer all the questions a lot of us have about bitcoin and crypto including its future, it sure established that there is a foundation for every other thing we think of can begin to stand upon because should the judgement have happened on the contrary, the effect would have been felt on the price and speculations would have pervaded to the entire crypto space looking for answers.

This seems a good news then.
If bitcoins are not illegal in India that means they would also not be considered illegal ourside India also.
We can expect that most of the country legalizes bitcoins than which would boost the growth for bitcoins.

The court hasn't given it's decision yet, everyone is eagerly waiting for that and if everything goes our way then it may direct the reserve Bank of India to lift the blanket ban on crypto transactions between exchanges and Banks. Their argument doesn't have any logic in it so the probability of the result towards crypto is highly possible.

Another important topic is that, maybe this could make way for other places that ban bitcoin as well? I know laws are different in every nation but if one nation bans it and then allows it, maybe other place could see their mistake and allow it as well?

Just to give an example, lets say India starts to tax bitcoin income of people, it would be very smart because India is known for their amazing online presence and they are very talented people and many software related companies hire Indians because it is both cheaper but also they are as talented as the Americans as well, so it is same level of productivity for much less money, bitcoin could allow this to get more common as well so it is cool that India allows crypto. Nations in Africa or any other underdeveloped nation could see how India prospers with Crypto taxation and could actually encourage their people to work for crypto as well.

I don't think why they think that Bitcoin was illegal, because it can use by crime it can be illegal? What if some fiat works from illegal things? Should we call a fiat as a illegal?

That is why this cannot be made as the basis to declare that Bitcoin is illegal. Fiat is also used in all kinds of illegal activities. If we are to stick to this shallow argument, then we might as well ban knives, forks, guns, pillows, and so on because they are also to commit murder or homicide.

Somewhat I know, the Supreme Court of India considered the constitutionality of the order of the Reserve Bank of India to the financial institutions of the country that they are not entitled to provide services to cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers. If such a decision is declared unconstitutional by the court, this means that it has no legal force. Cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers may start working again, however, this also means that there are no legal acts in India that would regulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies in this country. Neither the government nor the legislature of India made any decisions about cryptocurrency. So, India is still among the countries where there is no regulation of cryptocurrency, and in connection with this decision of the Supreme Court, there are no restrictions on its circulation.

India have announcement will accepted bitcoin and altcoin, last year after bitcoin banned as investment assets last days India have accepted back bitcoin as investment assets, I think with many country have banned using bitcoin better for legal as payment currency and make bitcoin become their destination for investment assets.

I hope forever Bitcoin will be accepted legal in India and of course we see people power in there community but institutions related to bank RBI maybe will continue to corner bitcoin ,by the way have seen some news about bitcoin in india is not illegal or legal but the risk is borne by itself "holder" and in fact the government wants to regulate course of the tax entry maybe that also makes it legal

I still think it's a a bit more of a hassle rather than just being able to send money from you bank account to an exchange to buy crypto and vice versa. On the plus side though provided you are careful enough with p2p and the trade partner don't ask for too much personal details, it's off the books save for the part where the cash for the transaction would have to withdrawn from the bank (if needed).

Anyway, good luck to the crypto enthusiasts in India. Tell the government to go shove it up their's.

India is the second most populous country on the planet. If cryptocurrencies take root there, the demand for Bitcoin will grow many times, and therefore the price may increase. The fact that the Supreme court of India issued a verdict loyal to cryptocurrencies suggests that India wants to be a modern country.

Because of Bitcoin transactions are anonymous if a person uses properly and their identity can't be revealed so governments are worried that some people may miss use it. But for this reason, they should find a way to over this issue instead of completely banning or calling it illegal. Bank money transfers they can easily track unless people use cash transactions then not so easy to find.

I think,  Instead for Indian to implement total bank. I doubt their they many Indian central bank are doing their hard work on a India, it's heare Indian Supreme Court ruled that they cryptography  assets are not illegal. The Indian government showd created laws pertaining to crypto currency. If there is non

something like this must happen in every country that wants to implement cryptocurrencies as legal payment instruments. It will definitely experience obstacles when it occurs in a country that holds a democratic and diverse system of governance. Because this is not easy, the Government certainly does not want to reorganize the economic and financial system that has been arranged in such a way just because of the emergence of cryptocurrency, I do not agree that crypto is not allowed in India, but this will trigger financial fluctuations in India, not to mention the negative impact of crypto . India is one of the countries with the highest level of corruption in the world, reaching almost 69%, just imagine, if this crypto is used as a place to store their corruption proceeds, or can be called money laundering, with crypto which is anonymous it is clear that this cannot be traced like funds stored in a bank that can be tracked easily.

This was already common knowledge beforehand. I deon't know why anyone would expect otherwise, to be completely honest.

The case is not won, in my opinion, due to the fact that the cause that they should be fighting for is to bring down the restrictions placed on financial intermediaries with regards to transacting with bitcoin related fiat remittance. An acknowledgement of the legality of BTC is clearly not quite enough.

And on this front, don't expect the Indian government to change their tune anytime soon. It is clear that they, alongside the RBI, are not interested in positively regulating cryptos in any shape of form.

 That's just a conclusion about the crypto of the Indian government. But we have yet to see a positive response from the Indian government. It is well known that accepting bitcoin is an illegal asset, but it is important that we expect the government of India to have a policy on the crypto market. Hopefully they will offer incentives to traders there and do not force high taxes.

There is some degree of privacy, but no anonymity, regardless of how much steps there are in-between each and every movement or attempt to obfuscate source.

I'm confident that governments are already at a point where it's quite easy for them to expose most people conducting "shady" transactions, but they are so insignificant that it doesn't pay off to chase after those people. It costs more than you can extract from it.

In that regard, I expect governments to open up more and have Bitcoin and other crypto assets grow within an already quite centralized ecosystem of exchange/wallet platforms. If the user experience of crypto doesn't quickly improve, most people will not store their coins themselves, but solely rely on centralized entities to do it for them. :-\

True, this is a fresh start for India for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to be recognized and use every day without fear of being illegal. India is a huge population and a good way for any cryptocurrency to thrive, innovate and grow well. I hope this crypto will be utilized and create the opportunity  to uplift most of the underprivileged people of India.

Of course, they will always impose laws for their citizen. And it is duty of every citizen to obey rules and regulation in every country. So, even bitcoin is a global coin. It needs to be regulated also. I can't say it is illegal but there is a probability that it is using for illegal.
India wants only to have their citizen a good future and not engage in scam. Because they think that bitcoin is a scam.

The reason bitcoin usually gets to be banned or deemed illegal is not because people can do bad things with it, usually its because you can't easily catch people who do bad things so easily.

Just to give an example, if you are a drug dealer who sells drugs for dollars, you can't put that money into a bank easily, you have to launder that money or just keep it in cash and so forth, however if you do with crypto you can sell it and withdraw it to your bank account and maybe no one can catch it. That is why governments are suspicious of bitcoin in general for the anonymous parts of bitcoin and not what it can be used for. They have absolutely nothing wrong with people buying and selling to make more money, that part of bitcoin is totally fine with them, but they have no clue what they should do if its used for bad stuff unlike fiat.

If people use it for anonymity's sake then that sends the message. People want privacy and anonymity. They do not want that their transactions and their personal identities be revealed whenever they buy and sell something. They do not want their worth to be public and known by other people. How about the government heeding this preference by the people?

Let's see about what it did :-
 It showed people that cryptocurrencies aren't a bad thing at all
 It allowed the government to see that they cannot always be right
 It actually won over the corruption and I think it created awareness beyond belief
 Cryptocurrencies won and that is a big thing , from awareness to legality it actually worked and we don't need to fear for how long , we need to actually celebrate it .

but this is only based on you but what about based on the higher court or the government ?  as some of them will still insist to say that cryptos are bad and can be a bad influence in thier country if their people use it , that why they continue to decline it  .

 this is sad but its  a real fact that people are facing now . but on india , idk maybe crypto really have won the battle because someone stand and fight it and the end   but before i heard crypto was bad on india  .

Still, the news would bring a lot of impact for the crypto community. Not only in the country India, but also to other country that would hear about the news, they may take a chance about the effect and uses of crypto currency realizing the benefits they might be getting from it. This would cause a good image for crypto currencies around the world.