Indian government to introduce new cryptocurrency-specific laws soon

Following the footsteps of its neighbour, China, which recently cracked down on all things crypto, the Indian government plans to regulate the currency in the upcoming Winter Session of parliament. Contrary to popular belief, there won't be a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies, but some are expected to get the axe.

There are no cryptocurrency-specific laws in India, but the government isn't too happy about people using it. India's apex bank, The Reserve Bank of India, has, on several occasions, dissuaded people from investing in it, albeit in an unofficial capacity. Some banks (both public and private) took it a step further and asked some investors for an 'explanation' regarding their portfolio.

The only official way to acquire cryptocurrency in India is via exchanges such as WazirX. Although there is no official data about the number of crypto investors in India, industry estimates speculate that there could be around 15-20 million users with holdings that exceed INR 400 billion (US$5.39 billion).That is quite a significant figure, and it'll be interesting to see how investors react to the new laws.

On top of regulating cryptocurrencies, the Indian government also wants to float its own digital currency, essentially mirroring the Chinese government's Digital Yuan initiative. That is the reason why it doesn't want to ban all coins outright. The government wants to learn about managing cryptocurrency infrastructure from third-party coins before prohibiting them altogether.