India Delays Its Decision Regarding Crypto Regulation

After touting a new bill that would potentially regulate crypto and declare it a new financial sector within the country’s borders, India has announced it will not be moving forward on the bill at this time. To be fair, this doesn’t mean a ban will be put in place. It just means officials are delaying a decision that was supposed to be made during this winter season in India’s Parliament.

India Has Hit a Standstill

News emerged less than a month ago that India had introduced a new bill that would potentially see to the regulation of crypto assets within the nation’s borders. Traders could engage in digital transactions so long as their assets were held by local exchanges. In addition, the country’s Reserve Bank was on the verge of releasing a new institutional form of crypto.

The fight about whether to ban crypto in India had raged on for the past few years. Things took a rather odd and scary turn when in 2018, it was announced that no crypto business could garner products or services offered by standard financial firms. Thus, blockchain and digital currency enterprises could not gain access to bank accounts or anything else that standard financial establishments offered.

However, two years later, the country’s Supreme Court declared this move unconstitutional, and it was decided that the ban on crypto companies would come to an end. From that point on, it looked like India was set to become one of the primary crypto havens of the world, but things took an even uglier turn when it was announced that regulators in India were now considering a full ban on crypto activity. Thus, it wasn’t just crypto companies that were going to be barred, but rather anyone who traded it.

When Will a Decision Be Made?

However, as of late, it was believed this route would potentially come to an end given that members of Parliament were set to consider a bill that would declare crypto a whole new asset class in India. This bill would have also seen to the regulation of such a class rather than a full ban. Sadly, it now looks like any decisions regarding this bill have been put on hold, and thus the confusion surrounding crypto in India is likely to continue – at least for the time being.

One of the big issues getting in the way is that Parliament is not too pleased with everything contained in the bill. They are asking for specific rewrites before they are willing to consider any elements of the document. The winter session is slated to end this coming Thursday, which would leave only one day for regulators to make an official decision on the bill. This does not provide enough time to engage in the rewrites and the official decision-making process, and it’s unclear when this bill will again take precedence.

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