India will propose a law banning cryptocurrencies and penalizing anyone trading or holding the digital assets in the country, according to Reuters. The proposed law, one of the world’s strictest against cryptocurrencies, is a blow to millions of investors piling into the in-demand asset class.
The bill measure by India is in line with a January government agenda calling for banning private virtual currencies while building a framework for an official digital currency.
The bill would give holders of cryptocurrencies up to six months to liquidate, after which penalties will be levied.
Officials are confident of getting the bill enacted into law as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government holds a comfortable majority in parliament.
If the proposed ban becomes law, India will be the first major economy to make holding cryptocurrency illegal.
In India, despite the government’s threats of the ban, transaction volumes are swelling, and 8 million investors now hold 100 billion rupees or $1.4 billion in crypto-investments.
Top Indian officials have termed cryptocurrency a “Ponzi scheme,” but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this month said they are looking at which experiments can happen in the digital world and cryptocurrency.
A government panel in 2019 recommended a jail term of up to 10 years on people dealing in cryptocurrencies.
Major cryptocurrencies are currently declining. BTCUSD is down 1.88%, ETHUSD is down 3.20%
