Cryptocurrencies across the globe are in a great tumult from several weeks. The banks of the U.S. have declined the purchase of Cryptocurrencies and China has blocked Crypto exchanges. During the national finance budget, the Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley expressed that the nation does not recognise Bitcoin as legitimate, and specific actions would be taken for the penalisation of Crypto payments. As a result of this decision, it would create a frenzy among the cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors. After Mr. Jaitley’s statement, a significant drop was viewed in the price of Bitcoin.
The statement evoked bursts of insecurity and doubts among the crypto community about the legalities of trading. The Secretary of Economic Affairs SC Garg announced shortly after the budget announcement that the government will set up a panel for examination of crypto assets trading in unregulated exchanges. The submission of the panel would be at the end of March 2018. The head of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee (BACC) of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Ajeet Khurana is highly motivated to the spreading awareness of the crypto currency in India. Mr. Khurana was highly cheerful after the speech of the Finance Minister. He spoke that he was happy because crypto currency was mentioned in the national budget of the country.
The harsh opinion on the cryptocurrency community by the finance minister and the fall in the Bitcoin prices may be the result of a lack of awareness of Bitcoin. But although such statements have been very bad for the crypto world, India’s Cryptocurrency have been rising steadily in trade. Although no specific measurements are available, Mr. Khurana spoke that at least a five million active traders are present in India who are transacting via banking channels. Some of the leading Cryptocurrency exchanges like Unocoin, Zebpay, Coinsecure and Bitxoxo have reported a significant market increase in user interest each day.
Additionally, the IAMAI has put great efforts for increasing awareness among the nation through outreach programs like educational videos, reading materials and others. Khurana said that they are the first industry body to do so. The IAMAI are also busy developing an online course from the help of industry experts and Bitcoin exchanges. They are also working on a self assessment test.
In contrast to the global media and news coverage, India is not particularly banning the Cryptocurrency. Neither have they banned its trading on exchanges. The statement from the finance minister Arun Jaitley meant that there was specifically no pointers of banning Cryptocurrency nor a crackdown of Cryptocurrency exchanges. To put it in a positive way, the tax authorities of India are using Cryptocurrency exchanges as a tool for chasing tax evaders. No doubt the statement of Mr. Jaitley cause a great havoc and tumult among the national press and media channels, which they informed in a wrong of that the Indian government was banning Cryptocurrency. It was just false reporting by the media. To put briefly, there will be no banning of cryptocurrencies in India. The cryptocurrency trading will continue in the country.
