Cryptocurrencies are headaches for governments of many countries across the globe and the war on this form of cyber transaction doesn’t seems to be ending anytime soon basically due to the fact that the government has no form of control over it in any way so it cannot be manipulated.
The Indian government is reportedly the next one tracking down on cryptocurrencies according to Reuters which made it known that the country’s legislature is on the verge of introducing a bill which will criminalize trading, mining, issuing, transferring or even possessing cryptocurrencies.
The bill is likely to pass if it’s introduced, giving India some of the world’s strictest digital currency laws.
When this is in effect, those who own any of these digital currencies will have just six months to liquidate the holdings before or they face the law. According to Reuter whose source was a government official never mentioned specifically the punishment or action that will be taken against those who break this law.
If we’re to go by the 2019 government panel recommendation, a jail time sentence of up to 10 years was proposed as being the punishment for anyone breaking the cryptocurrency-related regulations by the government.
The official says the discussions are in their “final stages,” although there’s no strict timeline for introducing the bill.
The Indian government had earlier made its plans known back in January when it published an agenda for its upcoming legislative session which includes banning “all private cryptocurrencies” in the country though there will be some exceptions which is to promote the general use of blockchain technology.
Simply put, Indian government wants to create its own official government-issued digital currency while outlawing private alternatives such as Bitcoin which is the mist popular with a record high trading at US$59,755.
While some countries are trying their possible best to regulate this new digital currencies, there isn’t any major country that has implemented this kind of ban on cryptocurrencies. Even China whose policies on cryptocurrencies are very harsh doesn’t outright outlaw owning them though prohibits trading coins.
This has been a long battle between cryptocurrency traders and the Indian government as the country’s central bank cracked down on Bitcoin back in 2018 and then banned banks from dealing in virtual currencies.
The country’s supreme court eventually overturned the decision back in the year 2020 but it didn’t necessarily preclude passing a new, stricter law just like the current one being dealt with.
