The Indian government may be planning to legalize cryptocurrencies in the country albeit with strict conditions.
A government committee has been formed and is reported to have held meetings twice to discuss the issue. It is expected that a comprehensive report will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance by February 2019, reports The New Indian Express. However, it appears that the legalization will be allowed under strict conditions.
The committee has agreed that cryptocurrency cannot be considered as entirely illegal, with current debates going on in the committee.
Apart from these meetings, an inter-disciplinary panel has also been formed. This panel will look into the legal matters and involve the stakeholders such as crypto experts and exchanges to ask for their opinions on the matter.
It is important to note that in March 2017, the first government panel to tackle the crypto issue suggested a complete ban on cryptocurrencies and assets. However, a second committee was formed last year to revisit this issue with the intent of regulation and legalization.
The “ban” suggestion of the first panel led to the decision of the Reserve Bank of India to render cryptocurrencies illegal. This decision was challenged in the supreme court of India and as a result, the second committee was formed. However, as a backlash, some cryptocurrency firms such as Zebpay Exchange closed their businesses in India. Zebpay blamed the Reserve Bank of India for this decision and its representatives claimed that their bank accounts were seized, meaning it could not operate in a reasonable way.
Legalization reports have emerged from India in previous months, so the rumor mill hasn’t let off. For example, in the middle of 2018, media reports came out claiming that the second committee considered cryptocurrencies to be legal assets.
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