Regulatory heat, now in India, surrounds BTC once again
All Great Changes are Preceded by Chaos
India, a country that is home to the second largest population in after China and accounts for 10 percent of the total BTC transactions worldwide, unveils plans to penalize the use, trade, and circulation of “illegal” cryptocurrencies, including BTC. Arun Jaitley, Indian Finance Minister, has been recently quoted as saying that his country neither regards nor sanctions cryptocurrency as “legal tender” and will be taking “all measures to eliminate the use of crypto ‘assets’.” His retort signifies that the Crypto remains illegal in India and authorities are bent upon stamping their use out once for all.
At a time when BTC is under serious plunge and is struggling to sustain itself around the psychological barrier of $10K, Indian authorities are planning to add further fuel by squashing one of the major markets down to earth. As viable options, Indian govt. may proceed to devise some new legal mechanism or will be amending existing legislation to ensure that all kinds of transactions and trade in cryptocurrencies are made illegal duly. Owing much to the recent demonetization campaign and other like initiatives of the Modi government to regulate economy and minimize corruption, it is also likely that the new legal regime would propose penalties for individuals and enterprises involved in cryptocurrencies, says Monish Panda, founder of an Indian Law firm by his name.
Indian Foreign Ministry lashed out at cryptocurrencies, especially BTC, castigating it as Ponzi scheme. Indian users of BTC have already been undergoing strain as country’s banking system initiated a crackdown on crypto-trading and consequently, deposits and withdrawals became a consistent cause of tension for crypto-enthusiasts. In January 2018, both public and private banking sector, including State Bank of India, ICICI, HDFC, and Yes Bank suspended accounts of exchanges, citing suspicious transaction-activity.
Prior to the initiation of a full-scale repressive drive against cryptocurrencies, officials from Income Tax department of India have already raided exchanges and prepared lists of the involved stakeholders, most probably for the sake of identification. Soon afterwards, notices were served to brokers, exchanges, and investors demanding them to pay capital gains on their income. Current statements Finance Minister, however,r suggest a lot more than mere taxation concerns. We have to wait a few more days as it is still to be seen how far Modi government is ready to go in its resolve to regulate or, for the worst, crush the crypto market. Whatever tool it adopts from its legislative arsenal, would ostensibly have a detrimental impact on the worldwide exchange rate of BTC, which may dribble further downward as Indians would resort to a new selling spree en masse. Remeber, demonetization campaigns and taxation measures strengthen the worth of currency.
Come what may, it is an undeniable fact that Cryptocurrency is future of individual finance. The blockchain tech is taking over music, art, healthcare delivery, and many other fields of human interest; and the tradable token via blockchain has to be you know what, the Cryptocurrency. Don't panic my fellow Indian crypto-kitties!! HODL!!