Is India Banning Bitcoin?
No, Not yet.
The Draft Bill states Trading in Bitcoin Can be illegal:
Yes, it does, but it’s just a “Draft,” which was written more than a year ago by a Committee with a one-sided view and many different opinions by the people involved.
Media reports say India Plans Ban on Bitcoin:
These are clickbait articles, all they say is that an internal note has been moved by the finance ministry requesting consultations from other departments.
Is the Draft bill up for approval?
The Bill is only in the initial discussion phase within ministries as of now, as is every other draft piece of Law. The Bill is not yet introduced in Parliament, It is being passed around for amendments, opinions from other ministries.
Should you panic once it is introduced in Parliament?
Absolutely not, there are many stages and deliberations before the Draft Bill passes in its current form and can take months if not years.
In the meantime, it can be intervened & amended to stop and restrict all Illegal activity in Bitcoin and allow use for legitimate reasons such as trading with KYC/AML laws, which most companies already follow in India.
Or
It can always be rejected at any of the stages and never see the light of day.
We are not even at the first stage yet, hence Do not panic, Bitcoin is still very much legal In India as it was yesterday and will probably be tomorrow.
Is the Indian Crypto Industry doing anything to avoid prohibition or to get favorable regulations?
Yes, We are a part of a Subcommittee under IAMAI for Crypto companies, all of the top Indian companies are members, and we are having dialogues with the regulators since 2017.
We are continually working towards reaching out to regulators and helping clear their apprehensions. We as part of IAMAI were the ones who fought the RBI for our Rights in the Supreme Court for two years and Won.
But as I have said earlier, the Supreme court win was just for the Circular that the RBI issued to be quashed.
That was a battle, but we have a War to fight and get the right regulations for our industry.
Our country can immensely benefit from the technological and financial innovations that crypto-assets bring with them.
#BitcoinSahiHai
PS: Most of the references above are made as “Bitcoin” for cryptocurrencies in general as that is how the mainstream recognizes cryptocurrencies. No distaste intended against all the other CryptoAssets.