First off I am an Indian citizen myself and I would like to clarify some details on the Indian Crypto ban. I have tried to state the facts as plainly and without bias as possible.
No Ban on Crypto
First off there is no outright ban, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is the central financial regulatory body of India, has issued a notice to Indian Banks registered under them to stop collaborating with entities dealing in Virtual Currencies. These banks have been given 3 months’ notice to do so.
The RBI is working on their own digital currency!
The RBI is not the government although they do work in conjunction with the government.
What this effectively means is that although there is no ban on Crypto as of yet, Indian investors won’t be able to buy anymore Crypto with Indian Rupees through Indian banks.
For now, I see only two ways for an Indian citizen to invest after the 3 months is over.
Buy through Cash from Localbitcoins.com or route fiat to a friend living in a country where it is legal to buy Crypto.
I wasn’t surprised... at all
To be completely honest, I wasn’t surprised by this hasty, unplanned decision at all. There have been other embarrassing bans that the Indian government has enforced before.
• Demonetization
On the 8th of November, 2016, the Indian government decided to demonetize all 500 and 1000 rupee notes in an effort to tackle ‘black money’ in the country. The government was not ready with replacement notes. The banks were not equipped to handle this amount of traffic. Planning gone into it was abysmal. This obviously was a disastrous move and in the end, the general population is who suffered the most.
Other things that are banned in India.
• Beef Ban
The sale of cows for slaughter is banned although buffalo meat can be consumed. (Poor buffalos) This is only out of religious reasons as the Cow is considered sacred in the Hindu religion. Having said that, apart from Hinduism there is Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism also in the country. So much for secularism.
• Advertising Alcohol
Liquor companies now promote their brand extensions such as Music CDs, Mineral Water, and Sodas to name a few.
• Homosexuality
This ban was uplifted in 2009 and then re-instated in 2013. This was devastating for the LGBTQ community and a very regressive move by the Supreme Court of India.
• Porn
Yes, porn was banned briefly but after a backlash, the decision was reversed although through some Internet Service Providers most porn sites are still inaccessible. Albeit, where there’s a will there’s a way right. LOL
• 50 Shades of Grey
Yes, the movie was banned from screening although on second thought that may not be such a bad thing. Jokes apart, Movies have always been a soft target unfortunately and being a huge movie buff myself, I hope that changes in the future.
There is a ban even on the Sun -film that is put on the windows of vehicles! Yes, you read that right! The list is endless, but you get the point. Crypto isn’t banned but this move will stifle Indian investors from participating. I believe this decision was borne out of sheer laziness more than anything else, as Crypto is a new beast altogether which would take a lot of effort to properly regulate. For now, all we can do is fight against this stupid decision and Fight we will.