India is reportedly continuing a comprehensive ban on cryptocurrencies. According to Reuters, the country’s legislature will submit a bill that trades, mines, issues, transfers or owns cryptocurrency. The bill is likely to succeed if enacted, giving India some of the world’s strictest digital currency laws.
Under the plan, people who own these digital assets have six months to liquidate their shares. Reuters se source, a government official, did not specify the penalty for violating the rules thereafter. But a government panel in 2019 recommends a prison sentence of up to ten years for cryptocurrency-related offenses. The official says the discussions are in their ‘final stage’, although there is no strict timeline for the introduction of the bill.
The Indian government set out its plans in January when it published an agenda for the upcoming legislative session. The agenda includes the ban on ‘all private cryptocurrencies’ in India, with a few exceptions to promote the widespread use of blockchain technology. The goal is to implement an official government-issued digital currency while banning private alternatives such as Bitcoin – which reached a record high earlier this month and traded at $ 59,755.
No other major country has enforced this kind of ban on cryptocurrency. China, which has some of the strictest policies, prohibits the trading of coins but does not prohibit their possession.
The proposal that is underway follows a years-long battle between cryptocurrency traders and the Indian government. India’s central bank shut down Bitcoin in 2018, banning banks from trading in virtual currencies. The Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2020, but that did not necessarily rule out the adoption of a new, even stricter law – as is currently the case.