INDIA: Draft Law Proposes 10-year Jail Term for Dealing in Cryptocurrency

[D1v4c]

https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/draft-bill-proposes-10-year-prison-term-for-dealing-in-cryptocurrency-1544709-2019-06-08

The "Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019" draft has proposed 10-year prison sentence for persons who "mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies.

Besides making it completely illegal, the bill makes holding of cryptos a non-bailable offence.

[Theb]

Just by looking how they will soon launch a digital version of their fiat shows a clear motive on why they are pursuing a bill like this one. With their plan of removing all kinds of crypto assets in their country they are eliminating the potential competition surround their own cryptocurrency. These kinds of law doesn't only violate the rights of their people but also shows some kind of dictatorial ruling in their state. If I were a citizen in India I would ask for the Indian crypto industry to unite from investors and miners to crypto exchanges and form a protest against this unfair bill, a voice that can be heard is something that will get their attention especially when the election time comes.

[Bardman]

Just by looking how they will soon launch a digital version of their fiat shows a clear motive on why they are pursuing a bill like this one. With their plan of removing all kinds of crypto assets in their country they are eliminating the potential competition surround their own cryptocurrency. These kinds of law doesn't only violate the rights of their people but also shows some kind of dictatorial ruling in their state. If I were a citizen in India I would ask for the Indian crypto industry to unite from investors and miners to crypto exchanges and form a protest against this unfair bill, a voice that can be heard is something that will get their attention especially when the election time comes.

It has been happening for a while in countries like that where democracy is... well, shaky at best. They will simply ban Bitcoin, easy solution just like china and others, in Europe and more democratic countries, they cannot do that so they try other methods like taxes, fear, etc. Governments will always try to control crypto, I understand why, I would probably want to control it too, do you really trust most people?

[Adriano2010]

I wish that law to not be approved and government think twice what is better, take tax on bitcoin or ban it and never get nothing from? And i wish all countries let bitcoin to be used and not ban it.

[FlightyPouch]

I'm so confused, there is an article posted in another thread that RBI denied the knowledge about this amd they said they will be consulting the RBI? So that means this might take a long time before happening. Also, how will they track these addresses in which they don't even know if that address is from their countrymen. I can create an addressamd just deny the fact that that is not mine, they will not be able to tell that it is mine since they have no proof. They might ban sites or exchange? VPN are still legal, there are still a lot of ways they can use crypto currencies.

[boyptc]

The title looks very the same with other threads that popped last day but the content's different so I thought it's just a duplicated thread. However, with that addition of making their digital rupee.

Things got clearer now, remember when facebook banned crypto ads and after that they went into an idea and rumor of launching their own token? that's the pattern.

[ralle14]

I'm so confused, there is an article posted in another thread that RBI denied the knowledge about this amd they said they will be consulting the RBI? So that means this might take a long time before happening. Also, how will they track these addresses in which they don't even know if that address is from their countrymen. I can create an addressamd just deny the fact that that is not mine, they will not be able to tell that it is mine since they have no proof. They might ban sites or exchange? VPN are still legal, there are still a lot of ways they can use crypto currencies.

They can't track all addresses but if they're serious in eliminating some of it, they could start by gathering some of the past addresses used from the local exchanges since it's linked to each person.

The title looks very the same with other threads that popped last day but the content's different so I thought it's just a duplicated thread. However, with that addition of making their digital rupee.

Things got clearer now, remember when facebook banned crypto ads and after that they went into an idea and rumor of launching their own token? that's the pattern.

They're heading to the same route but it was said that their plans in launching a seperate cryptocurrency was postponed.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/rbi-is-putting-official-digital-currency-on-hold-reports-claim/

[coin-investor]

It's the biggest headline this week but surely has a big impact on the whole community it's very surprising it's coming from India they have a lot of cryptocurrency holders and believers, of course, there are hardcore believers and many of them had huge portfolio, I'm pretty sure many of our Indian brothers will go underground.

[tomahawk9]

If I were a citizen in India I would ask for the Indian crypto industry to unite from investors and miners to crypto exchanges and form a protest against this unfair bill, a voice that can be heard is something that will get their attention especially when the election time comes.

Hmm, I don't see any of them going to the street to protest, especially knowing how [some aspects of] the cryptosphere works (very low-key, privacy, anonymity, etc), and the general public probably doesn't care about such thing, hell, they'll probably waiting anxiously for the upcoming centralized digital currency from the govt. Something has to be done, but I don't think protesting is one of the options the indian crypto community will go for.

[dddudidd]

Actually, India is one of the countries that approves the existence of cryptocurrency.  I see many projects originating from India such as Otppay.  and they also make Taxi payment services.  but I was surprised if the law in India had begun to ban Crypto.

[casper77]

all this was already in several other countries
loud news headlines and nothing more
draft law is not law

[Herucooles]

I hope not ... if this really works, I'm afraid other countries will follow. So that it will make the cryptocurency price decrease. Maybe India has other strategies that we don't know. The bill issued with a 10-year sentence is terrible.

[btc_angela]

If I were a citizen in India I would ask for the Indian crypto industry to unite from investors and miners to crypto exchanges and form a protest against this unfair bill, a voice that can be heard is something that will get their attention especially when the election time comes.

Hmm, I don't see any of them going to the street to protest, especially knowing how [some aspects of] the cryptosphere works (very low-key, privacy, anonymity, etc), and the general public probably doesn't care about such thing, hell, they'll probably waiting anxiously for the upcoming centralized digital currency from the govt. Something has to be done, but I don't think protesting is one of the options the indian crypto community will go for.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/indian-street-protests-for-cryptocurrency

But I think it did more harm than good for them. And yes it looks like they have plans for their own crypto, hence the sudden and unexpected ban coming from them. I'm sure this will have a drastic impact, or it could be one reason why the price in the last couple of days have plummeted to $7k'ish levels.

[CryptoBry]

This has been talked a lot in here and maybe because most of us are surprised of this development though we have to make it clear that this is still a proposed law and it can take some time before it can be a law -- that is if this can passed and if the original intent of the proposal will remain intact as you know that legislation can mean compromises. Now, if ever this can be a law, it would surely be a sad day for India because they will equate the ownership of cryptocurrency to a big crime on the level of selling narcotics or thievery. Let's hope enlightened minds in their lawmaking body will eventually realize the folly of this as this is like inflicting a wound to their own citizens. We actually need the India market for cryptocurrency...let's hope that a time will come when they can see the opportunities rather than the threat posed by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

[Genemind]

India was one of the first countries who get involved in cryptocurrency. Some Indian also took advantage and have used cryptocurrency in a negative way so we can't blame their government for making a decision to ban it. However, I don't think their government could still track anonymous transactions. I'm sure that things will still get better in crypto despite all these controversies.

[coin-investor]

The title looks very the same with other threads that popped last day but the content's different so I thought it's just a duplicated thread. However, with that addition of making their digital rupee.

Things got clearer now, remember when facebook banned crypto ads and after that they went into an idea and rumor of launching their own token? that's the pattern.

So you think that India is banning Cryptocurrency because they want to launch their own token or cryptocurrency, I don't see the connection although there is a similarity, Facebook is a company while India is a country, they can impose sentence while Facebook can only disable your account.

[Pumapipa]

This is quite the news. I really cannot comprehend why governments are banning technological advancements like cryptocurencies. I mean, had they found some loopholes and security risks in the block chain technology, it will still be possible to upgrade or enhance its features to further suit the needs of consumers, right? There is no point in banning cryptos --these can actually be of good help to other people. SMH

[davis196]

The title looks very the same with other threads that popped last day but the content's different so I thought it's just a duplicated thread. However, with that addition of making their digital rupee.

Things got clearer now, remember when facebook banned crypto ads and after that they went into an idea and rumor of launching their own token? that's the pattern.

So you think that India is banning Cryptocurrency because they want to launch their own token or cryptocurrency, I don't see the connection although there is a similarity, Facebook is a company while India is a country, they can impose sentence while Facebook can only disable your account.

Facebook banned crypto ads,due to the vast majority of scam ICOs being advertised.
The idea of a facebook coin came one year later after the crypto ads ban.
India is a "no man's land" for the crypto world since 2017,we shouldn't care that much about the Indian government's actions.

[stompix]

If I were a citizen in India I would ask for the Indian crypto industry to unite from investors and miners to crypto exchanges and form a protest against this unfair bill, a voice that can be heard is something that will get their attention especially when the election time comes.

Good luck with your 20 people crowd.
I've been hearing this before the last election, now again for the next elections and guess what, nothing changed.

This is quite the news. I really cannot comprehend why governments are banning technological advancements like cryptocurencies.

Because they are stupid!!
If the government would be smart they would have done something to advance India from their 3rd world status, but years are passing and nothing is done.

At least with this, we can stop talking about cryptos and India just like we did about China.
Good that India has little to zero influence on the markets so we can move on effortlessly and be done with it. I've told people a hundred times, bitcoin will flourish in the western world, not in poor, corrupted, ran by incompetents countries.

[acroman08]

India was one of the first countries who get involved in cryptocurrency. Some Indian also took advantage and have used cryptocurrency in a negative way so we can't blame their government for making a decision to ban it. However, I don't think their government could still track anonymous transactions. I'm sure that things will still get better in crypto despite all these controversies.

agreed, India in one of the countries that has a large number of scammers which the government are concerned about
and when bitcoin entered the country it probably got worse thus the government is taking action to counter it.