India’s position on cryptocurrency continues to slide downhill. At the beginning of the year, the country was relatively warm toward the industry, but when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instituted a ban on its banks that prohibited them from working with crypto companies, things got a little worse. Most recently, the founders of the Unocoin exchange were arrested and police seized the country’s first crypto ATM, which only allowed users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies with no fiat support. Now, the country is considering making it illegal to use cryptocurrencies completely.
During the recent 19th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), the subject of cryptocurrencies came up, with some arguing that “private” cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin BCH and Bitcoin Core should not be allowed.
The country’s Press Information Bureau, on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Finance, released a statement, stating that a working group has been reviewing the topic. Another group, an inter-governmental committee that was formed to propose legal guidelines for crypto went the other direction and has suggested that a complete ban is the best course of action.
According to the press release, “The Council also deliberated on the issues and challenges of Crypto Assets/Currency and was briefed about the deliberations in the High-level Committee chaired by the Secretary (Economic Affairs) to devise an appropriate legal framework to ban use of private crypto currencies in India and encouraging the use of Distributed Ledger Technology, as announced in the Budget 2018-19.”
Per the government’s words, banning the “use of private crypto…” would mean that they could not be legally traded or be used as a form of payment. Initial coin offerings would no longer be allowed and any startups looking to get into the crypto space would be breaking the law. However, it might not prevent crypto enthusiasts from owning crypto – they simply wouldn’t have any way to spend it.
RBI’s banking ban has already taken a toll on the industry in the country. Several exchanges shut down, while others decided to move offshore. Last month, some exchanges restarted limited operations that saw users being able to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies through the platforms’ peer-to-peer services, but the latest from the government would seem to indicate that all exchanges will soon be looking at make a move out of the country.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has done its best to keep cryptocurrency from taking hold in the country, despite not having investigated its merits. RBI introduced a ban that forbid banks to deal with any entities in the crypto space, resulting in several deciding to move out of the country or shut down completely. Despite the bank’s attempts, cryptocurrency in the country is still moving forward, demonstrating the power crypto has and how it cannot be eliminated.
In light of the RBI ban and crypto exchanges’ inability to function normally, a number of peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges are cropping up. According to a number of sources, P2P crypto services have grabbed hold in the country and are expanding more rapidly than anyone could have imagined. In an interview with Bitcoin.com, the CEO of the Wazirx crypto exchange, Nischal Shetty, said, “In a bear market with no banking, Indians are warming up to P2P in amazing ways.” Wazirx, which began operating a week before the RBI ban, saw an increase in trading volumes of 35% by the end of September.
He further asserted, “P2P is working great for Wazirx. It’s helping us increase our daily trading volumes as well. In fact a few days ago we hit 100 BTC in daily trading volume for the first time…We’ve crossed over $5M in P2P in the 3 months since we’ve gone live.”
According to a recent survey led by the Instashift crypto exchange, which provides support for more than 80 digital currencies, the majority of those who responded to the survey indicated that they prefer to cash out through P2P services. Instashift now has more than 900 members and says, “We are clocking approximately around [$27,194 – $67,985] per week in India & our volumes are looking promising in Canada & Nigeria as well.”
Another P2P option is Coindcx. It also supports over 80 cryptocurrencies, allowing its users to trade the coins for rupees. It operates the Dcxinsta P2P trading platform, which gives users a platform to purchase crypto “in less than 60 seconds.” Last week, the company launched a new rupee open order book on the exchange, allowing users to “place limit orders for trading in INR and see a complete order book using their existing INR wallets.”
Just a few days ago, India saw its first cryptocurrency ATM. It is owned by the Unocoin crypto exchange and is available only for its customers, but the company indicates that it plans on installing as many as 30 more machines across the country.
Regardless of what the naysayers would have everyone believe, cryptocurrency is here and it is here to stay. Instead of working against its expansion, they should use that energy to help the ecosystem grow and mature in a way that can be beneficial to everyone.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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Residents in China have received a new warning against getting involved in cryptocurrency-related activities. This week, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has issued yet another notice to remind everyone in the country against investing in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) amid reports that domestic crypto activities have been flourishing recently.
According to the central bank, the cryptocurrency market is filled with so many uncertainties. The industry has seen skyrocketing prices, disrupting the market. The PBoC also reaffirmed its stance that ICOs do not have a proper financing mechanism, which needs to be regulated by relevant authorities. The PBoC notice reminded Chinese citizens that ICOs are “suspected of illegally selling tokens, illegally issuing securities, illegal criminal activities, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.”
According to the Chinese central bank, “It is important for consumers and investors to increase their awareness of risks associated with the industry and avoid falling in the same traps.”
The announcement comes a few weeks after the bank revealed a significant drop in cryptocurrency activities in the country. In August, PBoC stated that “The global share of domestic virtual currency transactions has dropped from the initial 90% to less than 5%, effectively avoiding the virtual currency bubble caused by skyrocketing global virtual currency prices in the second half of last year in China’s financial market.”
Since it banned ICOs in September 2017, mainland authorities have already shut down 88 ICO platforms and 85 ICO projects in the country.
However, reports recently surfaced that some investors and companies were braving the regulatory forces in China. Underground crypto transactions have become the order of the day with many people looking for ways around the ban. According to reports, some traders have resorted to using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), while others opted for offshore exchanges. Others have turned to peer-to-peer transactions to pay for services and products or purchase their favorite currencies and tokens.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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