Last updated on March 9th, 2022 at 06:44 pm
India’s government is planning to create a national digital currency and ban all other private cryptocurrencies. This includes also a ban on Bitcoin.
The official document is called Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill. The bill aims “to create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.” Along with that, it will prohibit all private cryptos in the country.
Will India ban Bitcoin?
The process of banning Bitcoin has started in 2018, when the government first recommended the measure. Furthermore, there was a proposition for 10 years jail time for offenders. The same year the central bank denied to treat cryptocurrencies as real currencies.
This lead to the closure of several crypto trading companies and local startups. However some of the affected filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court.
In a so called historic verdict just a few months ago, the Supreme Court overruled the ban imposed by the central bank. This lead to new ventures for the local innovators, such as the opening of the first crypto-friendly financial institution in India.
Local exchange and trading platforms’ owners hope that the government will discuss the idea with them, before taking any decisions.
We will definitely initiate deeper dialogue with the government and showcase how we can actually create a healthy ecosystem in unison.
Sumit Gupta, co-founder and chief executive of CoinDCX
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s value jumped more than 20% on Friday after Elon Musk changed his personal Twitter bio to #bitcoin.
India is not the first country that plans to create its own digital currency. However, there are significant differences between national digital currencies and private ones such as bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are decentralized, while national currencies are centralized.
