Investors are being severely haunted by rumors of the adoption of a bill to ban cryptocurrencies all over India. The bill was introduced in 2019 by Subhash Chandra, the former finance secretary after it was submitted by the Garg Committee.

Bloomberg and Economic Times have reported a possible development and adoption of a bill that many have described as draconian. The reports from Bloomberg and the local news outlet Economic Times have contributed immensely to the panic among crypto investors and traders in India.

Unverified Reports

The statement going around the finance and crypto community in India is that the bill will be evaluated by the members of the Federal Cabinet then it will be sent to the parliament for more discussion. Reports also have it that the bill might then be adopted as law. If this happens, it will put an immediate and total ban in cryptocurrency trading all over India.

Recent information has however shed more light on the news reports. The reports going round clearly have no basis as the bill has not left the Finance Ministry where it was submitted a year ago. It is very safe to say the bill is still in the stage it was in 2019 when it was introduced by Subhash Chandra.

Contrary to the news reports in Bloomberg and Economic Times, the crypto world in India is recording some victories and not bans. In April 2018, the Reserve Bank of India ordered all financial institutions to cut ties with Individuals and businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies. In March 2020, this ban was lifted by the Supreme Court.

The decision of the Supreme Court was shared on Twitter by Subramanian Swamy. Swamy who is a member of the Upper House of the Parliament in India and also a member of the ruling party said in his tweet:

” SC allows cryptocurrency trading, cancels RBI’s 2018 circular.”

Swamy is clearly in support of crypto trading in India. He was also quoted to have said ” cryptocurrency is inevitable”. When he was asked about the reports to adopt the bill banning crypto trading, he said “It will be madness if they do.”

Well known authorities in the crypto world in India have also lent their voices against the reports of the ban on cryptocurrencies in India. The CEO of CoinSwitch,  Ashish Singhal, pointed out that amongst the bills to be considered during the Monsoon Session of the parliament, there is no bill about placing a ban on cryptocurrencies in India.

Recycled News

Siddhartha Sogoni and Shetty Nischal, the CEOs of Crebaco and WazirX have also assured the public that there is no credibility to the reports in Bloomberg and Economic Times about a possible adoption of the bill. According to them, it will take a long time before the bill will be up for discussion in the Indian parliament.

Sogoni called the news reports mere clickbaits. He said the reports generated a lot of panic but some members of the crypto world are already used to such articles. Shetty also assured investors that the bill has not left the Finance Ministry since it was submitted in 2019.