This archive report was first published on 11 May 2021.
On January 2021, India's government unveiled a plan to ban private virtual currencies like bitcoin while building a structure for official digital currency. Now, a senior government official has revealed that the country is set to pass a law that would criminalise possession, issuance, mining, trading and transferring crypto-assets.
The proposed law, which has yet to be made public, would give digital currency holders six months to liquidate their assets. After this period, penalties would be levied on those who fail to comply.
India's move to ban cryptocurrency comes as the world's biggest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, gains more acceptance for payments following increased support from high-profile industry executives. However, top Indian officials have described cryptocurrency as a 'Ponzi scheme', while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been slow in shutting down the use of the digital currency.
India's Supreme Court declined to give the Central Bank powers to stop banks from handling digital currencies in March 2020, prompting investors to rush into the cryptocurrency space.
