The restrictive bill introduced in 2019 by former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg to outlaw cryptocurrencies in India has haunted crypto enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in the country to this day.
Reports on the further progress of the bill and the potential implementation of it as law by Bloomberg and the local news outlet Economic Times have only created more panic and fear within the crypto community.
These sources have always quoted “persons familiar with the progress” as saying that the federal cabinet will discuss the bill shortly before it is submitted for consideration to the parliament. Since early June, the same comments seem to have been doing the rounds.
These reports indicated a high probability of a ban on cryptocurrencies in India, without any additional details.
Yet there is as much confusion as there was a year ago about the bill today. The only thing that has changed — also in the Indian cryptocurrency industry’s favour — is that the Supreme Court struck down India’s Reserve Bank’s circular ban on financial institutions dealing with cryptocurrency companies and traders in March.
Subramanian Swamy, a member of the Rajya Sabha Parliament’s ruling party, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, tweeted about the ban’s repeal saying, “SC makes cryptocurrency trading, cancels the 2018 RBI circular.”
A local news outlet also quoted Swamy as saying that “cryptocurrency is unavoidable.” Crypto news outlet The Block recently reported that Swamy has denied hearing about any talk of a cryptocurrency ban, further rebutting the reports of a potential cryptocurrency ban:
“It will be madness if they do.”
