Looks like India is perhaps serious about banning cryptocurrency

[Sithara007]

There is an interesting piece of news coming from Coinbase:

https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-announces-new-presence-in-india-even-as-potential-ban-on-crypto-looms

Coinbase has announced that it will open a branch in India (in the city of Hyderabad), despite the looming threat of a potential ban. Their decision is not surprising, because India is one of the top-most IT destinations. There are large number of qualified IT engineers and the operations are more affordable when compared to other countries. Meanwhile there is a very vocal #IndiaWantsBitcoin campaign ongoing in Twitter, but the politicians have so far ignored it.

[LUCKMCFLY]

I am an Indian resident and many of the users who have commented here also come from India. We are worried since our livelihood is under threat. Almost one-third of my monthly income comes in the form of cryptocurrency and if that is taken away then I will be in a very bad financial state. And there are millions like me in India who earn passive income in the form of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For us, this is no laughing matter. It is a matter of life and death.

So sorry for that sad news and sad situation you are been with mate. As some of us also, are being worried with your livelihood as well because i do rely here in cryptocurrency to survive the needs of our family since pandemic. I bet, no one meant to laugh with the current situation that your country looks serious about banning cryptocurrency. But we do also respect laws that you're country have, we do only hope that this might not be too harsh on the side of crypto user.

If there is a total ban this means that they are going to remove the internet service and I do not think that is viable for India, the fact that they ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies does not mean that they can break those bans, perhaps with VPN, and other tools not possible?

I do not know if Localbitcoins.com or another Exchange is established in India that can make the handling of cryptocurrencies possible, but there are other solutions, there are groups where they exchange some cryptocurrencies and they do it through local currency, with an intermediary and they are options that can establish in India. Now with these restrictions by the government, does the government manage or monitor those who exchange through the network? They have NOT tested with coins that are privacy and give some anonymity? Like Monero, Zcash, any of those? I think the crux of all this is that they can never give their data, so the government doesn't follow up on them.

[Sithara007]

If there is a total ban this means that they are going to remove the internet service and I do not think that is viable for India, the fact that they ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies does not mean that they can break those bans, perhaps with VPN, and other tools not possible?

I do not know if Localbitcoins.com or another Exchange is established in India that can make the handling of cryptocurrencies possible, but there are other solutions, there are groups where they exchange some cryptocurrencies and they do it through local currency, with an intermediary and they are options that can establish in India. Now with these restrictions by the government, does the government manage or monitor those who exchange through the network? They have NOT tested with coins that are privacy and give some anonymity? Like Monero, Zcash, any of those? I think the crux of all this is that they can never give their data, so the government doesn't follow up on them.

The government has already taken steps to block IPs of major international cryptocurrency exchanges. Obviously those who used them will continue to do so, with the help of VPNs. Localbitcoins used to be very popular in India, until they came up with very stringent KYC requirements. Now they have lost the top slot, and replaced by other P2P platforms or personal one to one trading. And regarding XMR, ZEC.etc, they are not very popular in India and therefore the traders may face issues related to liquidity.

[virasog]

India is like other government that has their own rules and know how to handle their economy , the sad part here is that most of those who posts don't even come from india but acting as if they are affected of the issue 

I am an Indian resident and many of the users who have commented here also come from India. We are worried since our livelihood is under threat. Almost one-third of my monthly income comes in the form of cryptocurrency and if that is taken away then I will be in a very bad financial state. And there are millions like me in India who earn passive income in the form of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For us, this is no laughing matter. It is a matter of life and death.

I am not from India but i heard that they were supposed to bring the crypto currency bill in the Indian parliament budget but they did not do so. This means that this matter is delayed for next few months. Is it so ?  If this is true then it is good for the Indians citizens and also for the bitcoin community.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I am an Indian resident and many of the users who have commented here also come from India. We are worried since our livelihood is under threat. Almost one-third of my monthly income comes in the form of cryptocurrency and if that is taken away then I will be in a very bad financial state. And there are millions like me in India who earn passive income in the form of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For us, this is no laughing matter. It is a matter of life and death.

I am not from India but i heard that they were supposed to bring the crypto currency bill in the Indian parliament budget but they did not do so. This means that this matter is delayed for next few months. Is it so ?  If this is true then it is good for the Indians citizens and also for the bitcoin community.

Originally they were planning to introduce the bill during the budget session (8th March-8th April 2021), but now it looks as if they postponed it to the Monsoon session. But the intent is still there. Every now and then, the finance minister is issuing hostile statements against cryptocurrency and the RBI is also not behind in this regard. As of now, it is more like a temporary reprieve. We are hoping for a change of heart from the government, but it may be unrealistic to expect that.

[eaLiTy]

India is like other government that has their own rules and know how to handle their economy , the sad part here is that most of those who posts don't even come from india but acting as if they are affected of the issue  

The problem with the current union government is that they are trying to implement their own rules rather than following the legislation. If you look at their past performance you can clearly say that they have no idea about economics, if not we will not see blunders like demonetization and the way GST was implemented says a lot about their vision.

  For us, this is no laughing matter. It is a matter of life and death.

Life and death matter  . It is just passive and there are other options even if an extreme step is taken by the government.

[bryant.coleman]

The problem with the current union government is that they are trying to implement their own rules rather than following the legislation. If you look at their past performance you can clearly say that they have no idea about economics, if not we will not see blunders like demonetization and the way GST was implemented says a lot about their vision.

I am not from India, but being a frequent visitor to that country, I can say that demonetization didn't brought any positives to the economy. The main objective was to reveal unaccounted funds being held by tax evaders. In this regard, the exercise was a massive failure. Because the government itself admitted that more than 99% of the demonetized banknotes were successfully exchanged by those who held them (either directly, or using proxies). The ban on cryptocurrency, if implemented will be just another blunder.