India may Prohibit Interaction with Cryptocurrencies

A working group organized by the Indian government recommended banning cryptocurrencies and imposing penalties on those who will interact with them.

The working group has developed a list of sanctions that will be applied to those who in any way interact with cryptocurrency assets. For such actions as “mining, generation, possession, sale, transfer and creation of digital currencies” it is proposed to impose a fine in the amount of 250 million rupees ($ 3.63 million) and send to prison for up to 10 years. Recommendations will be reviewed by authorities and regulators who will make the final decision.

Recently, a member of the lower house of parliament, Anurag Thakur, who holds the position of finance minister of the country, noted that at the moment there is no law that would prohibit interaction with cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, some local experts on blockchain law are discussing the possibility of adopting a bill that provides for a total ban on interaction with cryptocurrencies.

The bill states that cryptocurrencies will be defined as “any information, code, number or token that is not an official digital currency, is created by cryptography or other means, and is a digital embodiment of value”.

“If the government decides to take such a step, India will significantly lag behind in terms of technological development,” said Satofik Vishwanath, co-founder of the Indian cryptocurrency company Unocoin, said.

Recall that the adoption of the bill was criticized by the famous cryptocurrency enthusiast and venture investor Tim Draper (Tim Draper), who said that the government of India is “miserable and corrupt”.