India is already unstable in the cryptocurrency market. And if the market here required any clarity on the norms set for the market, it is bound to be disappointed. The Indian Parliament was informed last week that the government was in no hurry to finalize norms or set a deadline for the task.
Pon Radhakrishnan, the minister of state for finance said to the Parliamentarians, “In the absence of a globally acceptable solution and the need to devise a technically feasible solution, the department is pursuing the matter with due caution. It is difficult to state a specific timeline to come up with clear recommendations.”
According to newspaper reports, the government was asked to submit a draft to its members on bitcoin this month. The panel is formed by the committee in November 2017 to study and suggest rules on virtual currencies. The findings of the report will be discussed in the meeting in January this year. The Narendra Modi government is in no mood to provide any respite to investors or cryptocurrency exchanges.
It is noteworthy that the industry has been ruing the absence of a regulation surrounding the cryptocurrency. The government’s mixed reaction to the same just acts as a show spoiler. According to a statement in October last year, the government was still mulling whether to ban cryptocurrency or pass a regulation. The Reserve Bank of India, too, has stifled the industry, stopping banks from dealing with virtual currency exchanges and traders. The industry, meanwhile, has taken the RBI and the other government agencies to court.
According to the found of cryptocurrency exchange Belfrics, Praveen Kumar said, “It is premature for RBI to launch crypto-rupee, as more understanding of the crypto economy needs to be achieved. It is the right decision to delay the process and see how the publicly traded peer-to-peer economy is shaping up.”
The RBI is still citing money laundering and cybersecurity threats as its primary reasoning for the anti-crypto stance.
With the onset of 2019, the industry is hopeful that something productive will happen in terms of regulations.
