Ahead of Parliament's winter session, source-based media reports again speculate that the pending bill to regulate CRYPTOCURRENCY It will appear in this session.
But unlike reports from February this year, which suggested a complete ban on cryptocurrencies, this time a complete ban seems unlikely.
The reason, sources say, is that cryptocurrencies in India have become too big to ban.
Too many people - around 20 million according to WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty - have gotten their hands on virtual currencies. And India is being seen as the fastest growing crypto market in the world.
The sector has already spawned two unicorns this year, CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber.
We are also seeing crypto exchanges outperforming digital brokers in terms of user base.
MORE INTEREST THAN SHARES?
The user base of the best platforms
- WazirX: 8.5 million
- CoinSwitch Kuber: 11 million
Both taller than ...
WazirX has 8.5 million users. CoinSwitch Kuber has 11 million. They both have more users than India's largest stockbroker, Zerodha, which has 7 million users.
It's amazing how much things have changed in one year.
In March of last year, the Supreme Court struck down the RBI circular that prohibited banks from providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges.
One year later, Crypto companies are the toast of the city.
Turn on the television and you will see commercials Bitcoin as a great investment instrument. Top Bollywood actors, from Ranveer Singh to Ayushmann Khurrana, are seen promoting CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX respectively.
Bollywood actors are releasing their non-fungible or NFT tokens, which are bought and sold using CRYPTOCURRENCY.
According to industry estimates, Indians have cumulatively invested around 6 lakh crore rupees in crypto assets.
Young investors in Tier 2 and 3 cities, who don't understand much about the stock market, have fallen in love with virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana.
For CoinSwitch Kuber, which recently became a unicorn, the average age of more than 11 million users is 25 years old. And 55% of its users are in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai. For CoinDCX, the other crypto unicorn, 75% of its investors are between the ages of 20 and 34.
The number has risen too much for cryptocurrencies to remain unregulated.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) do not seem very interested in regulating cryptocurrency.
So the government seems to have devised an alternative in the Gujarat International. Finance Tec-City (GIFT).
The Center may reportedly commission the International Financial Services Centers Authority or IFSCA, based in the GIFT City of Gandhinagar, to oversee cryptocurrency Commerce.
Remember, this is in line with what the crypto exchanges themselves have proposed to Finance Ministry in the past.
The government is also considering imposing GST on all transactions, including cryptocurrencies and NFTs, that take place in a blockchain.
There are several other factors that have contributed to the industry becoming mainstream.
Among Indian tech companies, crypto startups are hiring big companies.
More than 50,000 professionals are working in the Indian crypto industry, and the sector is likely to create 30% more jobs in the coming months, according to a report by Nasscom and WazirX.
Furthermore, full risk financing in Indian cryptocurrencies and blockchain Startups have touched more than $ 587 million this year, compared to just $ 37 million in the previous year, according to industry tracker Tracxn.
However, despite this positive momentum for the Indian crypto industry, skeptics continue to advocate for a ban.
Recently the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS head Mohan Bhagwat, during his annual Vijaydashami or Dussehra speech, mentioned obscene images on OTT platforms, drugs and Bitcoin at the same time, calling for urgent regulation for all three.
On Bitcoin, he said that it has the potential to destabilize economies.
The RSS, the ideological father of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), although not directly involved in policymaking, uses Dussehra's annual speech to explain its strong position on the policies it believes the government should adopt.
This year was the first time that cryptocurrencies appeared in the RSS head's speech.
The government definitely has a tough balancing act on its hands.
