Despite the global attention India’s stand-off with the crypto community has seen, the bill inspired by the stand-off might not be addressed by its senate in the ongoing parliament session.
The legislation of the recently famous Indian crypto Bill has hit a setback and might not happen again this year. Probably, the bill might not even see action time in this session of parliament seating. This setback stems from the fact that India’s government, as much as it is liberal to the ideal of legislated crypto regulations, hasn’t finalized and finetuned the specifics of this bill.
In line with this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants additional pondering and deliberation on the bill before the initial adoption as laws that will guide compliance in the nation’s crypto industry.
The prime minister’s good intentions, though, don’t paint a good picture for the crypto Bill, as there is limited time before the conclusion of the parliament session. The session will come to a close on December 23; the time available for addressing this bill wouldn’t be enough to iron out all the nuances accompanying the proposition. The bill cannot be rushed. It must be properly examined, evaluated, and reexamined to ensure that nefarious individuals and organizations cannot exploit any available loopholes. The bill was designed to be fair to the crypto community members in the country.
India’s Crypto Bill Imminent Rescheduling
According to an undisclosed source, the senate will postpone the cryptocurrency bill discussion indefinitely.
As at press time, the bill has been ousted from the closing segment of India’s to-do list in this year’s last parliamentary session. The schedule, which normally goes up on the country’s official website, changed earlier today.
The indefinite postponement can be considered a minor snag in the journey to innovate regulations in the nation’s crypto sector.
Members of the crypto community and investors in the industry shouldn’t panic yet; the government can still create new and appropriate laws outside of its parliament session by issuing the ordinance. There have been previous cases and precedence for this country.
Cryptocurrency Regulation In India
India’s major financial regulatory body has previously shown an anti-crypto stand in the country’s finance world.
In the early stages of the cryptocurrency boom globally in 2019, pre-global lockdown, India’s reserve bank (RBI) had clamored for a total ban of cryptocurrency and all related activities in the nation’s financial space. The regulator sought to outlaw the new technology and didn’t even consider regulations at the time.
Shortly after its rally, ‘Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019’ was passed into law by the nation’s senate.
The country began to miss out on the crypto boom era, which saw its other Asian rivals like China, South Korea, and Japan develop their financial space rapidly in this period.
India has since recognized the error of its ways as its Supreme court revoked the RBI’s outlawing of cryptocurrency earlier last year in March 2020.
The country is now in a unique place globally, being one of the few nations that don’t regulate nor outlaw cryptocurrency in any form.
If successful, the proposed bill ‘Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ will change its position globally, placing it amongst the elite few that have added crypto regulators to their national policies.
