India wants to adopt the outright ban on cryptocurrencies

Between the regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges and the pure and simple ban, the Indian government has decided.While more than 100 million Indians use virtual currencies, placing India in fourth place in terms of adoption behind the United States (according to figures from the BrokerChooser investment portal), the government will present a lawTo ban these private cryptocurrencies and create a framework, announced the parliament on Tuesday.The state with 1.3 billion inhabitants thus follows the step of China where the central bank declared illegal all activities around these assets which are based on the decentralized protocol and without intermediary of the blockchain.

In the process, with this bill, India wants to accelerate on its own digital currency controlled by the Central Bank when parliamentarians are back next week, parliament said.Announced at the beginning of the year, the law must fix ""a facilitation framework for the creation of the official digital currency which will be issued by the reserve bank of India (RBI).""

Cette fois, la loi proposée ""cherche à interdire toutes les cryptomonnaires privées en Inde, cependant, elle permet certaines exceptions pour promouvoir la technologie sous-jacente des cryptomonnaies et ses utilisations"", selon le bulletin du Parlement pour ses activités à venir.

A first ban and boom in the sector with young people

In 2018, the Indian central bank had already prohibited transactions in cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, within three months.But in March 2020, the Supreme Court authorized the banks to manage the transactions in cryptocurrencies of scholarships and traders, canceling the prohibition.

Since then, the sector has experienced a boom, many young people in the country having succumbed to advertisements of Bollywood and Cricket stars.The virtual currency market, based mainly on speculation activities, has exploded by more than 600% over the last 12 months, according to the specialized chainalysis firm.The total failing of these assets is in billion dollars.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also alerted young people to the risks presented by Bitcoin. ""Il est important que toutes les nations démocratiques travaillent ensemble sur ce sujet (les cryptomonnaies) et veillent à ce que ça ne finisse pas dans de mauvaises mains, ce qui pourrait corrompre nos jeunes"", a-t-il déclaré lors d'un forum en ligne sur la cybersécurité organisé par l'Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Likewise, the director of the reserve bank of India, Shaktikanta Das said last week that cryptocurrencies constitute a serious threat to the financial system if they are not correctly regulated.

Central authorities raised the tone

The control of monetary power is a crucial issue for the central authorities. Un peu plus tôt, alors que le Salvador vient d'annoncer sa volonté de bâtir une ville entièrement dédiée aux échanges en bitcoin, le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) a mis en garde le petit Etat d'Amérique central ""compte-tenu de la haute volatilité du bitcoin"".

Lors d'une conférence sur le bitcoin en Amérique latine, le président Nayib Bukele a expliqué que la Bitcoin City ""inclura(it) tout: des quartiers résidentiels, d'autres commerçants, des services, des musées, des lieux de loisirs...airports, ports, trains "". Il a qualifié sur Twitter la publication du FMI d'""intéressante"" analyse de son pays.

The price of Bitcoin did not seem affected by this announcement, the cryptocurrency progressing by 2% Tuesday, more than 56.900 dollars per unit.

(With agencies)

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