India: Not going to regulate bitcoin anytime soon

Cryptocurrency traders and investors in India have been waiting for a regulatory clarity from months now after the Reserve Bank of India had put a total ban on banks to deal with any bitcoin or cryptocurrency exchange in the country which forced all of the bitcoin exchanges in India to shut down. But the regulation shall not be out anytime soon.

The Government of India informed the parliament last week that the government is not in a hurry to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country and as such there is no timeline set for the task.

Pon Radhakrishnan, the minister of state for finance told the lower house of the country on 28th December that there is an absence of a universally acceptable solution for cryptocurrencies and as such the department of finance is not committing a timeline to come up with regulations.

The current leading government is not interested in providing any type of relief to the cryptocurrency investors and exchanges in India.

Earlier, the government had formed a committee for suggesting the regulation on digital currencies and the committee was going to submit a draft report by the end of the year. However, the draft will now be discussed in the next meeting of the committee which is scheduled in January next year.

Government confused

The government of India seems to be confused about whether to ban or regulate cryptocurrencies in India. However, for now, trading of cryptocurrencies in the country is quite difficult as the Reserve Bank of India has banned financial institutions to deal with any cryptocurrency related businesses or exchanges thus, there is no exchange currently operating in the country. Zebpay, which was one of the largest exchanges in the country had moved to Malta and Europe amidst the ban as maybe they did not believe that the government is going to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies anytime soon.

Earlier this year, the co-founders of Unocoin exchange, which was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in India were arrested by the Bangalore police for opening up a bitcoin atm in the state without the permission of any government agency. However, the co-founders were later released on bail and the case is still pending in the court of law.

What happens next in the country is difficult to predict. What we really can predict right now is that India is in no hurry to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country and thus a regulation shall not be expected anytime soon.