No Cryptocurrency Ban : Indian Government to Regulate Cryptocurrencies Soon

Finally, there is no ban on cryptocurrency in India but a strong legal framework will be in effect to regulate cryptocurrencies in India. As per the finance ministry, Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 will be on discussion during the seventh parliament session of the winter. 

On Monday Indian Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has no plans to boost the cryptocurrencies in India. The Indian government is in preparation to make the legal framework for cryptocurrencies in India.

“This is a risky area and not in a complete regulatory framework. We are not considering a ban on the advertisements, but we’ve been taking steps to caution the public through RBI and SEBI. The guidelines of the Advertising Standards Council of India are being studied and the regulations that they have are being looked into, so that we can take a decision on how to handle it, if necessary," said Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha earlier.

As per NDTV’s sources these following rules are going to be made as per Crypto Bill 2021-

1. Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in India under SEBI & RBI rules.

2. RBI is going to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

3. Cryptocurrencies are going to be an asset class but not a legal tender like you hold real estates, company shares, bonds, gold, silver etc.. Cryptos will be known as “Crypto Assets”.

4. You can’t hold cryptocurrencies on a private wallet or any foreign crypto exchanges.

5. You can only use Indian crypto exchanges and all these exchanges will be under Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulations.

6. For any illegal use of crypto like money laundering, terrorism, or any suspicious activity, all will be under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)

7. Every Indian has to declare their crypto assets to the government.

8. Any violation of Cryptocurrency act can lead you to a big penalty up to Rs.5 Crore to 20 Crore with one and half year of impressment.

9. Whoever will have their crypto assets in private or foreign crypto exchanges, must have to transfer those to govt regulated crypto exchanges within prescribed time.

As, cryptocurrencies are on decentralized blockchain technology & not controlled by any specific entity, so it’s complete ban is next to impossible but to stop unethical threads and misuse of cryptocurrencies, like Indian govt other countries may join the crypto regulation rally in near future.