NEW DELHI (CU)_India will propose a law to ban cryptocurrencies and impose penalties on anyone who is holding or trading such digital assets in the country, Reuters reported.
A senior government official, who has direct knowledge of the plan, told the news agency that the bill would criminalise possession, mining, trading, issuance and transferring of cryptocurrencies, and will therefore be one of the world’s strictest policies against crypto-assets.
Moreover, the bill gives holders of cryptocurrencies up to six months to liquidate, after which they will be fined, the official said.
Although the cryptocurrency market has been booming over the recent past, however, this bill will be in line with the government’s agenda announced in January, which called for banning private virtual currencies and developing a framework for an official digital currency.
If the bill is enacted, the South Asian nation will become the first major economy to criminalise the possession and use of cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, the official, who did not want to be identified by name, is confident that the ban would become law as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government holds a comfortable majority in parliament.
Despite government threats of ban, in India, cryptocurrency transaction volumes are swelling, with 8 million investors holding ₹ 100 billion ($1.4 billion) in crypto-investments.
The global cryptocurrency market is also booming, as Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, reached a record high $60,000 on Saturday (13 March), nearly doubling in value, particularly considering the increased support from several high-profile individuals including Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk.
Nevertheless, top Indian officials have described crypto-assets as a “Ponzi scheme”, although Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claims that the government is “not closing their minds” and is experimenting the digital world and cryptocurrency.
However, the senior official told Reuters that the government’s plan is to ban private crypto-assets while promoting a secure database technology known as blockchain, which is a system that could revolutionise international transactions.
“We don’t have a problem with technology,” the official said. “There’s no harm in harnessing the technology.”
