Indian government Banning Cryptocurrencies?

[teosanru]

It's been in news these days that Indian Government is looking forward towards banning of cryptocurrencies. India is one of the major Economic Powers of the World especially in Developing Countries. If after China, Indian government too places a ban on Cryptopcurrencies it could be a drastic state of affairs for the Bitcoin World. A few Months Back a report was submitted by the Central Department of Economic Affairs to Ban Cryptocurrencies in India. I have made a synopsis of the same report in plain English but as being Indian Centric Posted it here in the Indian Section. You can read it here:

Is Indian government going to Ban Cryptocurrency? If yes then how? - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5258373.0

It must be noted that Government is putting up strict punishments for those who don't obey the rules which include fines extended upto INR 25 Crores means around $4Million or upto the Amount of Scam involved. Also you might end up in Jail for upto 10 years. It's pretty evident that FBI in a case in US were able to track down a person using his bitcoin Address which reflected that Bitcoin is Pseudo-Anonymous and not Completely Anonymous. Special thanks to the KYC performed by almost all exchanges  
 Here is the Link as to how it can be done: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/26/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-criminals-law-enforcement/

Now if governments are able to track down Bitcoin users. And these 2 big Economies banning cryptocurrencies many other could follow the steps of these countries. Especially in the Eastern World which is still developing.

[20kevin20]

It's only been like what, a few weeks or months since Bitcoin was basically declared legal in India through a Court decision? It's not like it has been legal there for a significant amount of time in order to also significantly affect the price; doubts about this decision have existed ever since then.

Would've obviously been much better to hear that the decision is final and they are not planning to ban it again in the long term future, but I think a fuss larger than needed is made out of it.

[Jating]

RBI is planning to fight the decision of IDC a couple of months back when they overturn RBI's circular. So the table has turn now, however, I think this will be a lengthy process, as it will involved even the parliament if I'm not mistaken.

And with the pandemic around, I'm sure this could be decided later as there are more pressing issues that the India government will have to deal with. Unless RBI is hell bent to challenge the earlier decision. However, I doubt that they can really stop bitcoin or crypto trading in India and for any other government for that matter, the best they can do is regulate it.

[Tipstar]

Court decides according to the rules and laws of the nation. The court decriminalized crypto trading cause there were no specific prohibition on the law. The government and the parliament holds the power to modify laws and hence make it illegal to trade crypto. Many have also seen the window was to get rid of crypto for many prominent political keens and as they've done it, now they are making it illegal.

[teosanru]

It's only been like what, a few weeks or months since Bitcoin was basically declared legal in India through a Court decision? It's not like it has been legal there for a significant amount of time in order to also significantly affect the price; doubts about this decision have existed ever since then.

Would've obviously been much better to hear that the decision is final and they are not planning to ban it again in the long term future, but I think a fuss larger than needed is made out of it.

Let me make a Correction supreme court didn't declare cryptos legal because they were not illegal in the first place. RBI central bank just gave directives to it's banks not to use interact with anyone using cryptocurrency there was no criminalization. I had made a thread on this too. You can read it here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5256767.msg54649644#msg54649644

RBI is planning to fight the decision of IDC a couple of months back when they overturn RBI's circular. So the table has turn now, however, I think this will be a lengthy process, as it will involved even the parliament if I'm not mistaken.

And with the pandemic around, I'm sure this could be decided later as there are more pressing issues that the India government will have to deal with. Unless RBI is hell bent to challenge the earlier decision. However, I doubt that they can really stop bitcoin or crypto trading in India and for any other government for that matter, the best they can do is regulate it.

RBI hasn't filed for a review petition the latest I know. Therefore they don't stand a chance of fighting the supreme court order. Moreover as it seems from the facts of the case it's not fruitful for them to fight review petition. But yes due to pandemic this thing might be delayed for sure.

Court decides according to the rules and laws of the nation. The court decriminalized crypto trading cause there were no specific prohibition on the law. The government and the parliament holds the power to modify laws and hence make it illegal to trade crypto. Many have also seen the window was to get rid of crypto for many prominent political keens and as they've done it, now they are making it illegal.

Exactly true.

[pakhitheboss]

From 2018 till today I have been reading and hearing that Indian government is going to ban cryptocurrency. Don't you think that is too long to take a decision by the government. If they wanted to ban it they would have done that completely and not partially in 2018.

I do not believe that it is possible to ban cryptocurrency by any country. It is practically impossible to monitor the internet and with India's population and internet density it is next to impossible to monitor and control the internet.

So if the government does pass s law to ban cryptocurrency, how will they manage to implement the ban when they do not have the resources or the man power to monitor activities on the internet.

[kryptqnick]

It's been in news these days that Indian Government is looking forward towards banning of cryptocurrencies. India is one of the major Economic Powers of the World especially in Developing Countries. If after China, Indian government too places a ban on Cryptopcurrencies it could be a drastic state of affairs for the Bitcoin World. A few Months Back a report was submitted by the Central Department of Economic Affairs to Ban Cryptocurrencies in India. I have made a synopsis of the same report in plain English but as being Indian Centric Posted it here in the Indian Section. You can read it here:

Is Indian government going to Ban Cryptocurrency? If yes then how? - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5258373.0

It must be noted that Government is putting up strict punishments for those who don't obey the rules which include fines extended upto INR 25 Crores means around $4Million or upto the Amount of Scam involved. Also you might end up in Jail for upto 10 years. It's pretty evident that FBI in a case in US were able to track down a person using his bitcoin Address which reflected that Bitcoin is Pseudo-Anonymous and not Completely Anonymous. Special thanks to the KYC performed by almost all exchanges  
 Here is the Link as to how it can be done: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/26/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-criminals-law-enforcement/

Now if governments are able to track down Bitcoin users. And these 2 big Economies banning cryptocurrencies many other could follow the steps of these countries. Especially in the Eastern World which is still developing.

India has always been cold to cryptocurrencies. There have been talks about bans for years. However, like 20kevin20 mentioned, I thought the debate was settled recently with Bitcoin declared legal (or at least that it was unconstitutional not to allow banks to deal with cryptocurrencies, an article about it can be seen here). I can see from more recent articles that the talks have been renewed about banning cryptocurrencies, but for now it's more like rumors and intentions of some parties rather than a resolved matter. It sucks that Indians have to deal with this uncertainty around Bitcoin. I do hope the idea of banning will be dismissed.

[smyslov]

It's only been like what, a few weeks or months since Bitcoin was basically declared legal in India through a Court decision? It's not like it has been legal there for a significant amount of time in order to also significantly affect the price; doubts about this decision have existed ever since then.

Would've obviously been much better to hear that the decision is final and they are not planning to ban it again in the long term future, but I think a fuss larger than needed is made out of it.

It's just a week that this thread was posted Bitcoin trading in India is on fire, India just legalize Bitcoin and trading is on fire, and now we have a news that they are banning again, what is the final decision of the government, are they banning or not or they just want to see how many traders they have.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5256454.0

[TutorShow]

This news is not true and there is no source of news. A court ruled several months ago on the legality of digital currencies, and many companies and pioneers of crypto have shown interest in India. I do not think they might do this if the Indian economy was collapsed.
they will accept bitcoin exchanges and may ask for big bitcoin taxes but of them economy.
and india traders will learn how to buy bitcoin without them government knows.

[enhu]

Yes I wonder where the link from their government websites as well. It is sure that they are going to be hiring an expert in blockchain if they are going to be dealing with all the tracking. But this expert might just be scamming the government asking for fee if he'd suggest pursuing the law.

“Our focus is on preventing money laundering rather than tracking down criminals,” Robinson told Hard Fork, adding: “To achieve this, we provide tools to businesses such as cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions, that allow them to screen cryptocurrency transactions for links to criminal activity.”

I wonder if they can also asks the dex to participate in this because if not then dex will still be a solution and that they can't completely ban cryptocurency.

[eaLiTy]

Now if governments are able to track down Bitcoin users. And these 2 big Economies banning cryptocurrencies many other could follow the steps of these countries. Especially in the Eastern World which is still developing.

If i live in a country where trading and holding BTCitcoin could get a death sentence (paying INR 25 Crores just for trading BTCitcoin while the rest of the criminals who fucks up economy (bankers) and murder get a much less fine around 40k INR )while people who trade BTCitcoin gets 25 Crore . I know the present government works on sensationalism rather than doing anything on the right track and with that knowledge i know that the present government will pursuit anything that could divert the attention of the common citizen and they will not do jack shit about traders who knows their trade and all they do is cluster analysis, break the chain which is not even that hard and you are safe.
 

[hatshepsut93]

Didn't India already ban Bitcoin and then unbanned it? It gets so tedious to track countries like China, Russia and now India, they constantly send mixed signals to the point when it's hard to remember what was their last stance and what's Bitcoin's current legal status. And crypto journalists make it worse by using words like "X government" when it's really just one lonely MP with no power to change anything.

Can someone with a good knowledge summarize the history of Bitcoin legislation in India? I'd much appreciate it.

[CoinFoxs]

Few months ago Indian supreme court took first step towards embracing cryptocurrency in India, which definitely has a potential of becoming one of the largest cryptocurrency markets because of more than 1.3 billion population. India's stance on banning cryptocurrency has been unclear so far but reportedly there is draft passed by the ministry of finance cabinet that seek to set up a legal framework for banning crypto like bitcoins in India but nothing is official yet. I very much doubt that authorities would be able to stop people from trading crypto.

[Benefactor]

I know something about this. I have some friends who live in India. Talking to them, I found out that the news that came out to be on the side of the government is true. However, it is not yet known whether a final decision has been made. This is being done for money laundering and Bitcoin is being used as payment for various crimes. There has been a lot of trading from India in the last few days. We'll have to wait and see what happens in the end.

[tbct_mt2]

India has always been cold to cryptocurrencies. There have been talks about bans for years. However, like 20kevin20 mentioned, I thought the debate was settled recently with Bitcoin declared legal (or at least that it was unconstitutional not to allow banks to deal with cryptocurrencies, an article about it can be seen here). I can see from more recent articles that the talks have been renewed about banning cryptocurrencies, but for now it's more like rumors and intentions of some parties rather than a resolved matter. It sucks that Indians have to deal with this uncertainty around Bitcoin. I do hope the idea of banning will be dismissed.

How many times bitcoin has been banned in many nations? Real and fake news, FUDs, we can not count all of them. Let's take China for further discussion. After many years and FUDs that Chinese government bans bitcoin and crypto currency, all of them forced bitcoin and crypto market dumped many times, we had the Xi pump and a green light for bitcoin and crypto currency in China.

India will not be a different. When the globe widely accept bitcoin and cryptocurrency, India will not stay outside the game and common acceptances.

[davis196]

It's only been like what, a few weeks or months since Bitcoin was basically declared legal in India through a Court decision? It's not like it has been legal there for a significant amount of time in order to also significantly affect the price; doubts about this decision have existed ever since then.

Would've obviously been much better to hear that the decision is final and they are not planning to ban it again in the long term future, but I think a fuss larger than needed is made out of it.

I think that there's a conflict between the Indian government and Indian Supreme Court in regards to Bitcoin.
This is bad,because we as a crypto community need India to adopt cryptocurrencies,which will help the millions of poor people there,at least providing them with a payment alternative and an opportunity to make money.It seems to me that Modi is an authoritarian leader that is pretty anti-Bitcoin and wants more tax revenue and less money/capital to get exported outside of the country(crypto coins can be used for that).

[AniviaBtc]

Court decides according to the rules and laws of the nation. The court decriminalized crypto trading cause there were no specific prohibition on the law. The government and the parliament holds the power to modify laws and hence make it illegal to trade crypto. Many have also seen the window was to get rid of crypto for many prominent political keens and as they've done it, now they are making it illegal.

Maybe their country is really having a hard time to manipulate cryptocurrency in their economy. Some of the government officials there are not that knowledgeable about the advantages of cryptocurrencies in the market. They are lacking of proper manipulation and knowledge on how they will make this legalization of cryptocurrency more effective. It really depends on the government if they are willing to trust the bitcoin process and how it can really make an economy grow. But the government are the one who will make laws about this cryptocurrency, so if they don't see it much effective and they are struggling to manipulate it then it is also good for them to illegalize it again in their country.

[Cointikka]

Indian media has always been creating panic among the Indian crypto community by printing such news for the last two years now. They have been successful in doing that again as there have been multiple threads created in this forum about the same issue.

India is a democracy and passing a law takes time. There is no conclusive evidence that this law will get passed from both the house of the parliament. If it does get passed then this law can be contested by the Indian crypto community in the Supreme court.

Therefore it is too early to come into any conclusion.

[pooya87]

one important thing that you will soon learn about "news" (specially cryptocurrency related news) is that in most cases they are poorly written with very little research because they are aiming to spend the least amount of time to create the most clickable articles to generate traffic and make money.
the country X banned or is planning to ban bitcoin is one of the most common nonsense articles they can come up with and it has been almost 8 or maybe more years that they have been using this topic!

[Ozero]

Didn't India already ban Bitcoin and then unbanned it? It gets so tedious to track countries like China, Russia and now India, they constantly send mixed signals to the point when it's hard to remember what was their last stance and what's Bitcoin's current legal status. And crypto journalists make it worse by using words like "X government" when it's really just one lonely MP with no power to change anything.

Can someone with a good knowledge summarize the history of Bitcoin legislation in India? I'd much appreciate it.

India is now a state where there is no cryptocurrency regulation. Cryptocurrency in India was not prohibited and has never been legalized. The Supreme Court of this country a few months ago declared illegal the decision of the Reserve Bank of India on some restrictions on the circulation of cryptocurrency. The restriction was lifted and a legal void remained. The government and legislators of this country have not yet adopted any regulatory acts on the regulation of cryptocurrency, that is, there were no prohibitions or legalization. Now we expect what will be adopted with respect to cryptocurrency at the state level in India.