The Indian government has decided to break the ice on the subject of crypto regulation in India. At a recent hearing in the Indian Parliament, a set of crypto related queries were sent to the Minister of Finance.
The first question asked the Minister to clear his stance on the role of cryptocurrencies in the Indian economy and whether they were prohibited. In response, the Minister merely said, “No, Sir.” His answer was met with a sigh of relief by the digital assets space in the financially restrained South Asian country that had seen overburdened regulation.
Another question directed to the Minister inquired whether the government was aware of the ‘prevalence’ of digital assets in the nation. The Minister directed the responsibility for overseeing this industry to the Reserve Bank of India and other regulatory bodies, in response to the question.
A third question directed to the Finance minister brought up the issue of banning cryptocurrencies, to which the minister replied saying that the issue was being evaluated.
Apart from this parliamentary hearing, the fate of cryptocurrencies in the Indian economy would also be determined by an upcoming supreme court hearing to be held soon. With the Reserve Bank of India imposing tough restrictions on digital currencies, there were many corporations in the digital currency space that challenged the ban. The supreme court will be determining the outcome of this case on the 23rd of July.
Originally, the court was set to hold the hearing in the month of September in 2018. However, it had refused to press the case forward, instead postponing it for many months.
In the mean time, heavy handed restrictions against the nascent technology endure, and at least four major trading firms in the nation have been forced out of business. This includes Zebpay, which had once been a promising exchange firm and one of the largest in the region. The firm closed operations down in the September of last year. Following this, Coindelta also bit the dust and just last month, major player Koinex had also declared it was throwing in the towel.
