Cryptocurrency

After announcing to host G20 summit in 2020, India is now showing interest in approving cryptocurrencies.

Yesterday one of the senior members of the second interdisciplinary committee expressed the possibility of the cryptocurrency to get legalized in India, as per the reports obtained by the NewIndianExpress. India’s current stance on the digital currency and the related assets is a clear and a strict, harsh ban, but with new changes such as India’s participation in the G20 meeting earlier this December and the ongoing meeting within the government to look into the regulations of the cryptocurrency, things are looking brighter for the cryptocurrency acceptance.

Lately members of the second interdisciplinary committee such as Ganesh Kumar (the Executive Director of RBI), and officials from the Finance Ministry, participated in the G20 and the FATF working group meetings. Their insights and exposure to the new ideas obtained from such meetings will be highly beneficial in contributing to the decision and implementation of the cryptocurrency regulations within the country. The next meeting is due in January, next year. As per the reports from NewIndianExpress, one of the members of the committee said-

“We have also taken inputs from cryptocurrency exchanges and experts and will be examining legal issues with the law ministry. It is a complicated issue. Once all aspects are decided, then we will have more clarity. […] There is a general consensus that cryptocurrency cannot be dismissed as completely illegal. It needs to be legalized with strong riders.”

Earlier this month, it was reported by Cointelegraph that the government of India had advised a new juridical structure within the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ban the cryptocurrency in India completely.

The new committee meeting aims to deal with the arguments that surround the strict ban on cryptocurrency. It will have prominent participants such as members from the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology, RBI, Securities, the Revenue Secretary, and Exchange Board of India.

It is interesting to contrast to watch over as on the one hand India is progressing to participate in events related to cryptocurrency such as G20, and on other, it is not yet ready to accept it within its geographical boundaries. In the G20 summit that took place in Buenos Aires, earlier this December, the forum said-

“We will regulate crypto assets for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, and we will consider other responses as needed.”

While contrasting to this progress, lately in October, in the city of Bangalore, a few developers were arrested on criminal charges for they tried to develop India’s first Bitcoin ATM. As per the reports from Cointelegraph, these developers were charged under ‘serious criminal charges that included criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery.’ The reports from the Cointelegraph read as-

“The high profile arrest and remand in police custody for seven days thus carries undeniable symbolic clout, perceived as being tantamount to putting innovation itself behind bars.”

Indian Central Crime Branch’s take on the matter was that because ‘ATM’ was not government approved, therefore, calling it one renders it illegal. Prashant Mali, a cyber lawyer of India, said that instead of ‘ATM’ if ‘Kiosk’ was used, then the installation could be disputed as it will fall in a neutral ground legally.

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Gary Smith is freelance writer having 5 years of experience in writing crypto related articles, news stories and web contents. Basically, he is a computer science graduate. He always stay up-to-date with latest technolgy and crypto trends. He is also strong beliver in cryptocurrencies and blockchain world.
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