Amid the wave of fearmongering in India since the speculation of an absolute crypto ban took over the market, the Finance Minister’s exclusive statement has come as a sigh of relief for the crypto community and confirmed otherwise.
The Indian Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said in a reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday that the government is most definitely not seeking to deem Bitcoin as a currency in the country. However, she did not mention anything about banning crypto and suspension of trading activities. This further reaffirmed the information from inside sources that the government is only considering to regulate crypto as an asset while prohibiting its use as a form of payment. Henceforth, while payments via crypto will be restricted, trading will go on smoothly.
Sitharaman’s Confirmation May Reverse the Indian Crypto Crash
Recently, the Indian crypto market tripped and fell phenomenally, post the speculations about a crypto ban in India spread like wild fire, after the crypto bill brief in a leaked snapshot became the headliner. The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 is among the 26 bills which are scheduled to get listed for the upcoming winter session starting on 29 November. Nevertheless, the speculations caused an overnight pain selling series, further resulting in the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and multiple other leading altcoins to crash over 20% on exchanges like WazirX. Although, Sitharaman has yet again clarified doubts and took the crypto community’s side indirectly.
Sitharaman has had a history of indirectly pushing in favor of the decentralized industry, despite the country’s regulatory disapproval. Towards the end of Q3, Sitharaman warned the government against its extra cautious nature towards crypto, asserting that it could be a risky choice that may curb “a futuristic thing”.
“This is not an era where you can say I don’t care about what’s happening, or we don’t want to do anything. At the same time, are we yet ready to go the El Salvador way? We have to be sure that a futuristic thing can’t be shut out,”, Sitharaman told Hindustan Times.
