Today is the 1st of February,2018.
India has become a large market when it comes to cryptocurrencies and today the finance minister made a few comments about crypto in general and what the government would be doing about it.
The purpose of this post is to point out key flaws in the system and what actually goes on.
I'll just quote his exact statement
" Distributed ledger system or the blockchain technology allows organisation of any chain of records or transactions without the need of interediaries. The Government does not consider crypto-currencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these crypto-assests in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system. THe Government will explore use of blockchain tech proactively for ushering in digital economy."
Now a couple of points I'd like to make before I proceed further:
The News channel and online news pages are just so fucking good at misreporting and causing FUD that it's becoming a pain every day. If only they were to shut up, we'd have a lot less volatility.
The above statement only says that the government does not consider it as a legal tender when it comes to accepting payment. I'm sure half the people don't know what legal tender even means and all they interpret is that the govt considers crypto as illegal.
Finally the Indian government is looking at eliminating the use of crypto in illegitimate activities which is totally understandable.
A Side Note: About money laundering
Who launders money and how?
Well money is laundered by governments through banks. This is what people fail to understand. Laundering money through cryptocurrencies is not easy at all when you have a public ledger where anyone can easily see large movement of funds.
How many of your banks have a block explorer where I can see whats actually going on with full transparency?
Banks are the highest level of scum there is when it comes to illegitimacy. Printing money out of thin air. Using your tax money to fund terrorism in a government assisted effort.
I'd like to link in a video titled "Worse than useless: Financial Surveillance"
Privacy is a human right but the government thinks otherwise
To prove this statement just take the example of the Aadhar card linking nonsense to have a mobile number.
Its not an option anymore and is being forced on the general population.
Same thing if you wish to open a bank account.
And now when a technology comes up that the government cannot control, they try to scare away people and push regulations. The masses might succumb but a few of us will come out on top.
What will a ban against crypto achieve?
Well first thing is that crypto can be banned but it cannot be stopped. I could still freely send crypto to anyone and there is nothing the government could do to stop my transaction unless they decide to shut off the whole internet.
Will it stop money laundering?
Absolutely not! People who want to launder money through crypto will still be able to do it.
Will it decrease tax revenue the government gets from all the crypto related businesses ?
Doesn't take a smart man to figure out the answer to that.
Will it make life hard for certain people who actually use it?
These days Indian construction workers in Dubai and the middle east use crypto to send money back home. Earlier the only option was western union which use to charge horrendously large fees and rip off these workers. Crypto did that same transaction with negligible fees.
Bottom line is that nothing good would come out of a total ban. They would only lose money from tax payers who operate a crypto business.
Final thoughts and suggestions
What does this mean for the future of cryptocurrencies in India?
Nothing as of now. The government's stance is still unchanged. No regulations or laws have been drafted as of yet and an immediate outright ban is unlikely.
THERE IS NO LAW THAT SAYS CRYPTOCURRENCIES ARE ILLEGAL
In the event that they do decide to ban crypto then I'm pretty sure most of us would be better off moving to a crypto friendly country for good.
Other than that , its time to buy the dip and sit back and relax.
Also remember what satoshi and the motto of bitcoin says
"vires in numeris"
Its only a matter of time until we take over.