Crypto community rails against crackdown proposed by Garg committee

The committee led by Economics Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg has proposed jail term of upto 10 years for mining, holding or selling cryptocurrencies, further suggesting the removal of ‘crypto-assets’ from the payment ecosystem.

As per the startups and investors operating in the crypto domain, this action depicts nothing but how the board has failed to understand the distributed ledger technology.

Nakul Saxena, an investor in the crypto space alleged that govt representatives could have completed the KYC process of individual investors to stop getting indulged in money laundering and that would be a better option rather than banning cryptocurrency altogether which can easily solve various cross- border payment-related concerns.

This development has brought India at the urge of facing scantiness in technology space. Early-stage startups who are the victims of low investments may move abroad in case of a ban. 

Will this ban be enforceable?

Commenting on it, Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder of Unicoin said that even after the ban, tech-savvy individuals using the server in the US can readily bid these virtual transactions from there. The ban will only lead to unlawful activities in the dark market.

Earlier the bitcoin was banned by the Indian Government and now its the time for all cryptocurrencies. Industry observers and experts think that a complete ban on virtual currency in India may prove to be counterproductive. 

The hem and haw in the final decision on cryptocurrency transaction in India have kept all the stakeholders, investors and crypto platforms in dilemma. Meanwhile, many firms have started working with global companies due to the prevailing constraint imposed by the RBI on using banking networks to transact in cryptocurrency.

Supreme court will hear the respective case between RBI and the Internet and Mobile Association on Wednesday.

Ajeet Khurrana, CEO of Zebpay objecting upon the ban tweeted that addressing the concerns related to crypto would be far better option than India avoiding it by simply closing the door of potential growth.

In April last year, RBI also asked all the regulated entities including banks not to provide services to businesses roping in virtual currencies (cryptocurrencies) like bitcoins.

Moreover, due to inadequate support and regulatory uncertainties, cryptocurrency exchange firm Cryptokart got shut down few days back.

The development was first reported by ET.