The fate of virtual currency faces yet another war in a different region. The on-going battle of cryptocurrencies never really seem to be ending. While South Korea lifts the ban on ICO's and Cryptocurrencies; United States rejects yet another ETF proposal. And this time, the battle cry of cryptocurrencies has made its way to India!
As crypto enthusiasts and crypto supporters wait for final decision on the fate of cryptocurrencies, which will be granted on September 11 by the supreme court of India, let's take a look on what has happened so far pertaining to cryptocurrencies in India!
Well, the virtual currencies started gaining attention in India in 2013 with new users joining this bandwagon of the-unknown-yet-exciting new technology. It was also in December 2013, when for the first time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a press release on virtual currencies. It warned the users and traders of cryptocurrencies against the potential risks and frauds. However, this did not seem to deter the growing number of people, who were keen to invest in these virtual currencies. With numbers showing no signs of slowing down, the RBI released yet another warning in February 2017 reiterating the previous message.
After the demonetization impact (essentially meant to stop the cash dealings), the cryptocurrency exchanges in India saw an increase of almost 250% in its user base. The RBI issued its third warning in December 2017 alerting people of the risks against cryptocurrencies and ICO's. But the investors only saw the growing prices of Bitcoin, which had no intentions of slowing down. The Indian government even appointed a committee in order to examine the framework and legalities of cryptocurrencies globally and the impact of virtual currencies in India.
2018 has been a rough year for investors with bad news lining up one after another. The crypto investors of India started facing troubles when in January 2018, number of leading banks suspended any operations pertaining to cryptocurrencies. The worst blow came in April 2018, when RBI barred all the financial institutions from any involvement in cryptocurrencies. July 5 was the deadline set by RBI for the users to withdraw any dealings in cryptocurrencies.
An ongoing battle continues in the Supreme Court of India. Its first decision on July 20th to continue the ban on cryptocurrencies enforced by RBI, did little help to the investors. It has set a final hearing on September 11 when the fate of cryptocurrency investors, traders, and enthusiasts will be decided!
Img Source: https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/blockchain-government-regulation
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Those unfortunate Indians.
I can totally understand why a gov't would be hesitant to allow its citizens to spend their hard earned money on someting as ephemeral as cryptocurrencies. But blockchain technology is penetrating more and more industries and at this rate, India's gov't will have to do some degree of backtracking.
I agree.. Governments need to see it beyond the speculation.. Cryptocurrencies can play a huge role catering to the unbanked or even in a cross border remittance industry.
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