The recent news cycle around a new cryptocurrency bill, which is expected to be introduced in parliament, has created a lot of confusion. It initially led to a massive sell-off among crypto investors in India, as fears of a possible ban spike.
What is the future of crypto in India? Will India Really Ban Cryptocurrencies? What is the nature of the bill the government intends to introduce? Should I continue to invest in cryptocurrencies? These are just some of the questions on everyone’s mind right now as millions of Indians continue to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies.
To answer some of the biggest questions on people’s minds and bust some common myths, CoinSwitch Kuber recently hosted an AMA with the company’s CEO Ashish Singhal. CoinSwitch is currently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India.
Ashish is the Co-Founder and CEO of CoinSwitch, and has previously worked at companies like CRUXPay, Reap Benefit, Urban Tailor, Amazon, Microsoft, and others. He holds a degree from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology. His vision of opening a powerful yet user-friendly crypto exchange trading platform led to the launch of CoinSwitch.
Here are some of the questions discussed in the CoinSwitch AMA:
What does the proposed bill mean for crypto in India?
Ashish: Understand the history of the proposed cryptocurrency bill. We mainly know the title of the bill, which resembles the bill that was supposed to be introduced last year. However, the bill did not make it to parliament and things were completely different at the time.
Moving on to where it is today, the crypto community in India has flourished during this period. Millions of people are now part of CoinSwitch and other apps. Cryptocurrencies are currently considered an asset class and should not be treated purely as a currency. This could be the Google, Amazon of tomorrow, etc.
Government thinking is also slowly changing as they try to understand the concepts behind cryptocurrencies. We don’t know exactly what the proposed bill contains. We hope there will be a progressive revolution when the government proposes a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Would you say the future is bright?
Ashish: First thing, my opinion is biased since we run a crypto company. We believe that cryptocurrencies can change the financial industry and the financial infrastructure within the company. At the moment, we don’t know much about the proposed cryptocurrency bill. The government understands that the crypto industry can be huge. They are primarily concerned about things like misleading advertising that could harm investors. We need to tell governments about the pros and cons of cryptocurrencies and help them prevent abuse while keeping the industry open.
We hope that the proposed bill will be positive for the industry and crypto investors. The recognition of cryptocurrencies alone is a huge achievement for all of us. It is also difficult for the government to get a bill on crypto regulation as it is a very new technology. Every day a whole new concept emerges. Developing a regulation means having a bill that is effective not only today but five years from now. The bill could categorize cryptocurrencies and could eventually regulate cryptocurrencies in phases to help protect users and promote innovation.
What if there is a ban on cryptocurrencies?
Ashish: A complete ban on cryptocurrencies is quite difficult from a technological point of view since everything is peer-to-peer. Banning exchanges or cryptocurrencies is not the solution, but creating frameworks to work with can be an ideal solution. Even if that happens, the government will need to consider that there is more than $6 billion in value invested in cryptocurrencies by retail investors.
What is the difference between public and private cryptocurrencies?
Ashish: Public and private cryptocurrencies are the government’s interpretation of cryptocurrency for which we do not yet have a clear definition. The following interpretation is entirely ours. Public blockchains are where any user can participate in the ecosystem and make a change in the infrastructure. Private blockchains can be a blockchain established between several entities. Government understanding can be based on the issuance of a blockchain, similar to how public and private companies are accredited.
Should buy, hold or sell crypto right now?
Ashish: Now that is a very difficult question to answer. There is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now. We haven’t even seen the proposed cryptocurrency bill yet. What we know from our experience is that people in government are now seeing crypto in a positive way. However, there are also some concerns. All I mean is, make your own decision but your decision should not be based on what happened yesterday. Hopefully we will have more detailed information so investors can make more informed decisions. Wait until the hard truth comes and then you can take your call.
