[ad_1]
The Indian government is considering introducing legislation banning cryptocurrency, Reuters reports. The law would impose fines on anyone who trades, operates, or even holds cryptocurrency. The government has a comfortable majority in parliament, which gives the proposal a good chance of becoming law.
This would make India one of the most cryptocurrency-hostile jurisdictions in the world. China, for example, has imposed a number of restrictions on trading and mining cryptocurrency, but it hasn’t banned cryptocurrency ownership outright.
The legal status of cryptocurrency has been the subject of controversy in India in recent years. In 2018, India’s central bank banned Indian banks from providing financial services to cryptocurrency exchanges, hampering the growth of the country’s cryptocurrency economy.
Last year, the Indian Supreme Court overturned the ban, triggering a surge in Indian interest in cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency exchange, Bitbns, told Reuters that user registrations had increased thirty-fold over the past year.
But the High Court ruling left the door open to legislation on the subject. In January, rumors began to circulate that the government was considering a ban.
According to Reuters, the legislation would give cryptocurrency owners six months to liquidate their positions before the ban goes into effect.
Officials appear to fear that ordinary Indian consumers could make bad bets on cryptocurrencies and lose their savings as a result. The price of Bitcoin topped $ 60,000 for the first time over the weekend, double its value at the start of the year. But there have been times in the past when bitcoin has lost over 80% of its value in a matter of months.
[ad_2]
Source link