Indian Government to Present Draft Bill on Crypto Regulation in December, Documents Show

Published at: Nov. 20, 2018

The Indian government is actively preparing a draft bill on crypto regulation, which is expected to see light this December, according to documents obtained by digital news website Quartz India Tuesday, Nov. 20.

The government has filed a counter-affidavit yesterday, Nov. 19 in the Supreme Court of India, which is currently hearing a case filed by several crypto exchanges against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The document states that the Indian finance ministry panel, responsible for the draft and headed by secretary in the department of economic affairs Subhash Chandra Garg, will present its first version in December:

“Currently, serious efforts are going on for preparation of the draft report and the draft bill on virtual currencies, use of distributed ledger technology in the financial system and framework for digital currency in India.”

Quartz India reports that the draft report and bill will be sent out to members of the inter-ministerial committee (IMC), and that the next meeting of the IMC will specifically discuss the draft legislation. The documents notes that it is “expected that the draft report will be placed before the IMC by next month.”

Moreover, Garg’s panel has scheduled two meeting on crypto regulation in January 2019. According to Quartz India, the members of the committee will present the legislation and accept propositions during the meetings.

The legal battle over crypto regulations started April 2018, when the RBI announced that it would cease to provide services to persons or legal entities involved in cryptocurrencies. Following the move, eleven crypto businesses filed a case against the RBI in the Supreme Court to overturn the decision. After several postponements, the hearing was finally held late October.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court set a two-week deadline for the Indian government to announce its official stance on crypto. Shortly after the hearing, the Indian secretary of Economic Affairs recommended that the country’s Ministry of Finance to impose a ban on “private cryptocurrencies.”

As Cointelegraph previously reported, while the legal crypto framework in India remains unclear, Indian authorities arrested the developers of country’s first Bitcoin (BTC) “ATM” in the city of Bangalore under criminal charges. According to local news outlets, the two co-founders of the country’s first cryptocurrency exchange, Unocoin, were booked under serious criminal charges, including criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery.

Tags
Bitcoin Regulation
Cryptocurrency Exchange
Cryptocurrencies
Government
India
Related Posts
OTC crypto shops flood Hong Kong, but regulations may impact their presence
Hong Kong, one of the most significant and leading financial centers in the world, has played a large role in the development of cryptocurrencies. For instance, the Chinese territory has birthed some of the most established and successful crypto companies to date including the crypto derivatives exchange FTX, along with the digital asset platform Crypto.com. Yet, as trillions of dollars are traded regularly through crypto exchanges founded in Hong Kong, the “Vertical City” also contains an abundance of physical over-the-counter crypto shops as well. Henri Arslanian, PwC crypto lead and former chairman of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, told …
Bitcoin / Oct. 24, 2021
Australia's crypto ecosystem 2020: The spark for a DeFi explosion
For a country of 25 million people, Australia punches well above its weight both economically and in the world of blockchain. Australians have long been enthusiastic adopters of new technology, from cellphones to smart homes, so it’s little surprise they’ve embraced crypto too. Chainalysis ranks Australia 20th out of 154 countries surveyed this year for its "The 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report," citing favorable regulation that legitimizes the technology as driving "steady growth in adoption." Australian crypto educator Alex Saunders, founder of Nuggets News, said the Australian crypto community encompasses everyone from hardcore Bitcoin (BTC) maximalists to well-known Ethereans and …
Adoption / Dec. 20, 2020
FATF to Strengthen Control Over Crypto Exchanges to Prevent Money Laundering
Today’s Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) announcement focused on digital currency’s role in money laundering and heightened regulation, as Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted in his closing remarks. The FATF — an intergovernmental organization that focuses its efforts on fighting money laundering — is planning to strengthen control over cryptocurrency exchanges to preclude digital currencies from being used in money laundering and related crimes. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that the new measure will require that crypto assets service providers comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) procedures in the same way traditional …
Bitcoin Regulation / June 21, 2019
Study: 14% of Major Crypto Exchanges Are Licensed by Regulators
Only 14 percent of 216 global crypto exchanges were confirmed as being licensed by regulators, regulatory technology (regtech) startup Coinfirm found in its crypto exchange risk report released on March 27. Coinfirm, а London-based regulatory tech firm for digital currencies and blockchain, studied 216 global cryptocurrency exchanges to outline the key risks that can be associated with each platform, as well as to assist monitors in developing necessary regulatory frameworks. The analyzed exchanges reportedly represent more than 90 percent of global crypto market activity. In the study, Coinfirm evaluated the exchanges into seven categories of risk, including license and authorization, …
Adoption / March 28, 2019
Report: India May Not Ban Cryptocurrencies, But Treat Them as Commodities
India is not going to put a blanket ban on digital currencies, but rather treat them as commodities, an anonymous source in the government told news outlet Quartz July 11. According to Quartz, a Finance Ministry panel has ordered a study on cryptocurrencies, which may suggest that the government would treat them as commodities. A senior government official with knowledge of the panel’s discussion told Quartz that they doubt the government aims to ban cryptocurrencies. The source said that regulators’ main concern is how to effectively regulate the trade and identify “where the money is coming from.” They added that, …
Bitcoin Regulation / July 12, 2018