The landscape for cryptocurrencies in India is indeed not the most transparent at the moment. There are thousands of split opinions among both the government and those who decide to use the new form of money as a digital asset.
It is not a secret that India has been experiencing great traction and interest in all of what concerns to digital currencies, especially Bitcoin. However, the path has been a little unstable as cryptocurrencies have passed from being the new sensation in the country to a risky activity that is currently banned by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Let’s recall that it was just the last month, on April 5th, when the announcement came in that the Reserve Bank of India had banned cryptocurrencies in the country.
The announcement came from the Deputy Governor of the RBI, BP Kanungo, who stated that all of the bank entities regulated by the central bank were prohibited to build relationships with any crypto-related trade platform or to provide services using virtual currencies.
The announcement came as a surprise to the whole community, which certainly was not expecting a regulation regarding cryptocurrencies.
And to be fair, the regulation was very severe as not only prohibited banks to develop a relationship with any form of virtual money; it also forced those entities that were already doing it to kill the relation within three months, lapse after which sanctions would apply on the contrary case.
As it was to be expected, crypto enthusiasts were not going to give up that easily, a fact the community proved by taking the RBI ruling decision to court.
So far the primary defense relies on the arbitrariness of the central bank by banning cryptocurrencies without a factual cause, as well as how the decision deprived the rights of the Indian population “to carry on any occupation, trade, or business.”
Regarding the facts, the global economy portal Quartz India affirmed,
“On April 22nd, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after a petition challenged the banking regulator’s April 06 order barring lenders from doing business with cryptocurrency exchanges.”
It remains unknown what the dictamen will be, but it all seems to the point that the crypto community is willing to take the actions to its ultimate consequences.
Regarding what’s going to be the landscape for cryptocurrencies in India still, there are lots of possibilities. However, we can be sure that the roller coaster will continue to go up and down as the country is potentially a great place to trade cryptos.
Could we see something similar to what it happened with other Asian countries such as India and South Korea shortly?
Well, there’s definitely a chance of that being an option, but we like to be more optimistic about how the future could look like for cryptocurrencies in India.
After all, there’s a humongous chance that the country would be a potential niche for cryptos as is one of the biggest countries in the world, and what’s best, it has an economy that seems to fit perfectly with the idea of virtual currencies.