With uncertainty looming large, a wave of investors trading in cryptocurrencies has been rushing to panic-sell their investments, leading to WazirX, India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange crashing for a few hours.
Currently, India doesn’t have any regulations or bans on crypto trading but it’s had a rather impetuous relationship with it.
A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular from April 2018 had also advised against dealing with virtual currencies, until it was set aside by the Supreme Court in 2020.
Then later on in 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had indicated a “calibrated” stance, saying, “We want to make sure there is a window available for all kinds of experiments which will have to take place in the crypto world.”
Given this teetering stance, what kind of outcome is expected from the bill?
“Considering the kind of interest or fascination it has acquired among the younger generation, it is clear that a considerable number of Indians have invested. But the consequences of this move would depend on what exactly the bill intends to do,” says Mr Subhash Chandra Garg who headed the Garg Committee which had recommended a ban on virtual currencies in its 2019 report.
“What the bill which was prepared by the committee that I headed in 2019 proposed, is very clear. But what the government is preparing to introduce in Parliament now is as cryptic as cryptocurrencies,” he adds.
