New Round of Bans in India

The Government of India has submitted a cryptocurrency bill. According to the January 29 Bulletin of the lower house of the Indian Parliament, "The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021" is listed for consideration at the current parliamentary session.

This bill resembles the cryptocurrency bill developed by the interministerial committee (IMC), chaired by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra GARG. The bill, dated February 2019, was unveiled by the Finance Ministry in July 2019. It proposed to ban all private cryptocurrencies and called for the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) – the digital rupee. Garg has since resigned from the government work, the Finance Ministry has still not approved the bill.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published a brochure on payment systems in India recognizing the popularity of cryptocurrencies. The central bank also confirmed that it is exploring the possibility of whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat and, if so, how to implement it. The Indian crypto community, in turn, does not support the government's decision. Many people think that this is insane and it is possible to lose valuable technology owned by the general public.

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