{"id":17511,"date":"2021-03-15T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027e255260002489"},"modified":"2021-03-15T17:30:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T17:30:31","slug":"india-set-to-propose-bitcoin-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/india-set-to-propose-bitcoin-ban","title":{"rendered":"India Set To Propose Bitcoin Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-india-cryptocurrency-ban\/india-to-propose-cryptocurrency-ban-penalising-miners-traders-source-idUSKBN2B60R0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A senior Indian government official has informed <em>Reuters<\/em><\/a> that the nation of India is set to propose a law banning cryptocurrencies. The bill would be a major blow to the industry, as it would reportedly penalize anyone holding, trading or mining digital assets, including bitcoin. <\/p>\n<p>Three years ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/india-lifts-crypto-ban-south-korea-imposes-new-rules-and-the-us-remains-stagnant\">the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attempted to ban cryptocurrenc<\/a>y by inhibiting banks from doing business with companies in the industry. Although India\u2019s supreme court struck down the ban in 2020, it now appears that a new, even stricter ban will soon be proposed. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe senior official told <em>Reuters<\/em>, however, that the plan is to ban private crypto-assets while promoting blockchain \u2014 a secure database technology that is the backbone for virtual currencies but also a system that experts say could revolutionise international transactions,\u201d <em>Reuters <\/em>reported. <\/p>\n<p>This coincides with recent speculation that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/indias-central-bank-sees-pros-and-cons-with-national-digital-currency-2021-03-01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">India is considering releasing its own central bank digital currency<\/a> (CBDC). This news suggests that the government understands the potential impact of digital currencies, but are yet to embrace privately-owned ones like bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this regulatory confusion, India remains a potential hotbed for Bitcoin adoption. With a population of 1.3 billion people and a widespread lack of access to traditional banking, Bitcoin could represent the unleashing of individual freedom and monetary access. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn India, despite government threats of a ban, transaction volumes are swelling and 8 million investors now hold 100 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) in crypto-investments, according to industry estimates,\u201d reports <em>Reuters<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>In addition, <a href=\"https:\/\/coin.dance\/volume\/localbitcoins\/INR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to data from Coindance<\/a><em>,<\/em> India has maintained a consistent LocalBitcoins volume, at 113,772,416 rupee (about $1.5 million) for the week starting on March 3, 2021. The proposed ban, although foreboding, appears to be non-impactful on the transaction volume in India, at least for now. <\/p>\n<p>It should also be noted that it\u2019s not realistic for a government to \u201cban\u201d a decentralized technology like Bitcoin, which is a free and open-source software that can be accessed and leveraged without approval from any third-party entity. However, they can impose penalties that make it difficult to access or easily use Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>As Bitcoin adoption inevitably increases in India, so will the potential benefits to be reaped by network participants. These benefits may very well overtake any advantages sought through the proposed ban.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Indian official has reportedly confirmed that the country\u2019s government will propose a ban on holding or using cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2730,"featured_media":17512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[126,219],"class_list":{"0":"post-17511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-regulation"},"author_data":{"id":2730,"name":"BtcCasey","nicename":"casey","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/jn_tjlo_400x400.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/proposed-crypto-regulations-would-ban-bitcoin-in-india.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}