Exchange Exec Says Bitcoin Ban in India Not Final Yet, is There Any Hope?

Published on by Cryptoslate | Published on

This week, the inter-ministerial committee of India officially recommended the imposition of what has been considered a blanket ban on crypto assets like bitcoin.

If the report is accepted by the finance ministry and the ban goes through, executives fear it would effectively put an end to the potent crypto market in India, restricting the ability of companies in dealing with crypto assets.

Already, most leading crypto exchanges in India have closed operations in India and moved to other markets.

Since April 2019, local reports indicated that due to regulatory uncertainty, funding for exchanges in India has started to dry up.

"Crypto is not banned in India," said Nischal Shetty.

"Crypto Ban is a suggestion by the IMC report Section 1.1 of the report suggests the government should form a standing committee to revisit this Everyone loves talking the negatives but let's understand this is not over yet."

Upon the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, many analysts speculated that the government of India could take a tougher stance on the crypto market as the Modi administration has done throughout the past two years.

Whether it is a blanket ban or strict restrictions, continued uncertainty in the crypto industry of India is likely to lead to a decline in confidence for investors and an impractical ecosystem for local startups.

While industry executives have expressed hope in recent months, Sathvik Vishwanath, the co-founder of Unocoin, one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges in India, said that shall the ban go through as proposed by the IMC, it would result in the crypto sector of India significantly falling behind other leading markets.

"If the government decides to take such a drastic step then India will stand to lose out significantly on the technology front."

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