Bitcoin’s plug has been pulled again as the market falls by 10% after a string of negative news. Every major news publication is posting an article about India banning Bitcoin, and even YouTubers are talking about it. According to Reuters’ report, they received information confirming that the government of India is going to pass a bill against crypto. And the report also added that this bill is going to be very strict. In fact, it could criminalize the possession, trading and mining of Bitcoin in India. And strict actions will be taken against those found guilty.
But is India actually banning Bitcoin?
There has been no official statement yet that suggests that Bitcoin could be banned in India. In fact, India’s finance minister said, ” We will allow a window for people to use Bitcoin and experiment”. That means that the government could give investors time to liquidate their assets before the ban actually happens. But that is pure speculation, and we are not entirely sure how things will turn out to be.
India’s Finance Minister, “We will allow a window for people to use #Bitcoin and experiment”
— Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) March 14, 2021
We could also infer that India’s finance minister is not against Bitcoin, but RBI could be. And it plans on releasing its own cryptocurreny in order to have the power of regulation. But if that happens, the entire idea of having an unregulated curreny throughout the world goes away. And it seems that even after a lot of efforts by the Indian investors and the #IndiaWantsCrypto movement on Twitter, nothing is working. People are very vocal on Twitter about what they want, but as usual, the Indian government is unable to understand the gravity of the situation, plans to turn a blind eye on Bitcoin.
The Indian crypto market has just started booming and it being banned now is really bad. The government would be taking away a once in a lifetime opportunity from its citizens by banning cryptocurrency. Another big problem about this is that, unlike China that has banned crypto, it hasn’t at least criminalized possession or mining of BTC. But in India, the rules will be stricter and will obliterate investors in the country.
Numbers aren’t dropping.
Though we have been hearing that Indian will soon be banning Bitcoin, the number of transactions and volumes aren’t dropping. The world’s largest cryptocurrency crossed a record high of $60,000 on 14th March and has also made record volumes everywhere. A report suggests that over 8 million investors are holding $1.4 billion in crypto investments in India. And the numbers have been rising continuously. Though I am a crypto enthusiast and an investor myself, I must say that FOMO is definitely into play here. Many of my friends have started investing, seeing me talk about it lately.
WazirX, the largest crypto trading platform in the country, reported that the volume of transactions they have been seeing is constantly increasing every month. And the latest amount is well over $2 billion. And another exchange Zebpay said that they are doing as much business every day in Feb 2021 as they did in the entire month in 2020.
What should an investor do?
Before saying what you should do, it’s important to know what you shouldn’t. “Don’t panic and Sell” because until we have a solid official statement saying that from now on, Bitcoin is banned in India, there is no point in selling. In fact, accumulate and hold till the last moment. And even after that, if the government bans crypto, then you could send it to a friend, family or colleague outside India and ask them to hold it for you. Even I am planning to do that. Though, I personally don’t know how would the ban impact the market in general.
What are your thoughts on India banning Bitcoin? And are you holding till the news comes, or have you already sold it? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like it and share it with your friends.
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