TL;DR Breakdown
- India’s government wants to fast-track its crypto regulation bill.
- President Kovind could sign an ordinance that would ban crypto assets in the country by March.
The mind of the Indian Authorities appears made up already as they look to take a short-cut towards enacting their recently proposed bill to ban all cryptocurrencies in the country. A report from CNBC has said that the authorities want to take the “ordinance route” which would fast track the implementation of the bill by the country’s government.
President Kovind could sign a crypto regulation ordinance
The ordinance method would involve the President of the country, Ram Nath Kovind, issuing an “ordinance” due to the Parliament not being in session. This would allow the Indian government to take legislative actions that would lead to the introduction of the crypto law a month after it was issued.
The report highlighted that the necessary parties involved have begun working towards drafting the new crypto regulation ordinance. Timsy Jaipuria, a reporter with CNBC, noted that the government wanted this bill passed quickly. He added that citizens of the country would have to be patient to see what other plans the government had for the industry.
As it stands presently, the crypto ban could become effective as early as March this year. The country’s parliament is discussing the bill in its sessions. However, they are expected to go on a recess between the 16th of February and the 7th of March.
President Kovind would be able to wield his legislative authority during this period when the legislators are on a recess.
India’s government muddies crypto regulation
The recently proposed bill is vague about its definition of “private cryptocurrencies” and at the same time, it also claims that it would leave “exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.” This remains unclear to many in the crypto community in the country as they do not know if this new crypto regulation is an outright ban or not.
Kumar Gaurav of Cashaa says this new bill might be an attempt by the government to cut down the use of crypto assets for illegal activities and not an outright ban on its usage.
The country had earlier imposed a two years blanket ban on all crypto assets in the country. This, however, was overturned by the Supreme Court of the Asian country.
