Considering all we have heard from the finance minister, government officials, and crypto exchanges, the crypto bill, if it is able to meet all the challenges today, will put India on the global map for blockchain development.
The majority of Indian IT professionals work around the world, and India has been a leader in software development for over a decade.
The bill titled ‘ Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021’ is scheduled for the winter session of the parliament any time soon.
Crypto exchange leaders have noted that while India’s messaging on cryptocurrencies has so far been mixed, the country’s regulatory framework could propel it to the forefront of blockchain technology.
Stakeholders have already made representations to the parliament panel in charge of financial matters. Nevertheless, there is some confusion, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants to completely ban cryptocurrencies, while the Finance Ministry wants to regulate crypto under and as an asset class rather than outright banning them.
India needs to understand that cryptocurrencies are an integral part of the entire blockchain ecosystem, and any ban would severely affect the IT industry, which employs hundreds of developers.
There are various crypto projects that are Indian-based, like Polygon, Zebi, Nucleus Vision are a few names, which will suffer if there is a ban on crypto.
A founder of a crypto exchange said that crypto just goes hand in hand with blockchain technology and without crypto, who will use it because crypto is an incentive for using that blockchain platform.
“India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and is an important frontier for decentralized blockchain technology to penetrate. In turn, cryptocurrencies are an essential component, without which it becomes difficult to incentivize the decentralized component of the technology, and what you are left with is a centralized ledger, defeating the purpose of the object and severely limiting funding for innovation, ” Toby Gilbert, CEO, and co-founder, web said a business daily.
India is not the only or first nation to bring a law for crypto, Singapore already has a law regulating the sector, nations like Estonia, Malta, Luxemburg too have some regulations.
This bill follows a review meeting by Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, on cryptocurrencies, where concerns were raised about India’s crypto exchanges’ manipulative and frivolous advertisements on TV and news channels claiming to make you wealthy if you invest in cryptocurrencies.
Apart from this, South Korea postponed a 20% crypto tax until 2023 following difficulties gathering tax information, while Russia has some regulations, but due to regulatory confusion, important areas like crypto mining, taxation, and use of digital coins for payments and crypto trading have been omitted.
One has to wait for a few days to see what the government has planned for the crypto sector, as the bill is expected to be tabled soon. It is high time for the Indian government to see crypto as a positive area, as you can find negative in any sector.
Jagdish Kumar
Klever Writer