India has been emerging as the hub for globalization, thanks
India has been emerging as the hub for globalization, thanks to its dense population where the majority of the population fall under the category of youth, i.e below 25 years of age. This makes the country a thriving global market where the majority of the companies look to launch their products with purely Indian customers in focus.
Major governments around the world have been cautious over allowing crypto use in their country, however, they have come a long way from their initial days, where they outright banned the use of crypto in any form, and have put certain regulations to keep the use of digital assets in check.
Same holds true for India, where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier banned the use of crypto in the country and have been quite passive towards the crypto phenomenon up until 2018. Recently, with the general elections right around the corner, the supreme court has directed the drafting committee to finalize the regulatory framework sooner, as there are many impending cases and petitions before the court related to cryptocurrencies which cannot be judged without some rules put in place.
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Indian Crypto Community Optimistic about Crypto future in India
India has a majority of its 1.3 billion population falling under the youth category, which also earns it the name of the “Young Nation”. The youths in the country are quite technically lenient and follow the technology trends quite religiously. Majority of the cryptocurrency startups in India are headed by dynamic youths who believe that the digital assets would have quite a positive impact on the country’s economy.
After the news of the drafting committee finalizing the crypto regulations came into the public domain, there have been various roadshows and open talks going on and around the topic of cryptocurrencies, and how regulatory frameworks should be defined to help the country become a budding ground for a dynamic crypto future.
India has missed the dot com boom in the late 90s and does not want to follow the suit with Blockchain and crypto boom, thus despite being cautious over it’s earlier, the government has decided to regulate the crypto use in the country.
Whether the regulations finalized by the government authorities would be put in place in the first quarter of 2019 or later, we might have to wait and see. In the meantime, the crypto community in India has come together to make the larger population aware of the technology and how it might change the way the financial sector operates. The roadshows and open community talks also intend to draft few advisory reports that would be forwarded to the drafting committee looking into the matter.
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Critiques have Their Reservations
The beauty of being the largest democracy in the world also help India to have ample voices from both sides, where many still believe that legalizing crypto use in India might not work as the country does not have the resources to use cryptocurrencies beyond trading.
One crypto lawyer in the country has already cast his doubt whether the regulatory frameworks can help the country. According to the lawyer, it’s quite difficult to regulate an entity which promises anonymity, which would make it impossible to track where the crypto is being used. The other argument by the critiques is still the price volatility.
However, there has been a petition in court against the ban over crypto use in the country saying the ban is unconstitutional. It is to be seen whether the drafting committee is able to meet the 4-week deadline to put the regulations in place. But, we would certainly not like a Mexico kind of situation where the regulatory body in a hurry drafted a plan which is outright bizarre, impractical and more of a paradox. The committee rules say that the regulated exchanges have the authority to offer crypto, but did not deem any crypto fit for the offering.
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Can India Beome a Pro-Blockchain Nation by the End of 2019
Well, looking at the track record and elongated delays by the drafting committee, it all depends on them and their knowledge of the technology. We would not mind if the committee takes longer than usual to draft the final regulatory framework, but we would certainly not like a complex regulation drafted in a hurry, which might put the country behind by a couple of years in the crypto adoption race.
It’s certain that, if regulations are defined by keeping the larger population in mind, then India could for sure see itself being at the top of the crypto race. It is not just optimism inside me which makes me believe the success of cryptocurrencies in India inevitable, but many established players like Binance and other crypto service offering giants are looking towards the country anxiously and have high hopes from the Indian market.
Here is what Mr. CZ Binance think about the Indian crypto scene,
“India, with its tremendous tech talents, has the potential to be a major development center for blockchain technologies and as well as a financial hub for the world tomorrow. This will have tremendous benefits to the people, businesses and the economy in India. Regulations should try to prevent bad actors while encouraging innovation and industry growth. We hope positive pro-blockchain regulations will come out of this so that we can start to invest in India.”
It is evident from the fact that major brands and companies have India in their minds while launching any new products and looking at the potential and opportunities that these Indian markets provide, it won’t be a big surprise if major crypto players follow the suit.
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