This decision is driven by concerns of cryptos being allegedly used for duping investors and for terror funding 
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This decision is driven by concerns of cryptos being allegedly used for duping investors and for terror funding The Centre proposed to ban all private cryptocurrencies with certain exceptions in The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which will be introduced in the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament. This decision is driven by concerns of cryptos being allegedly used for duping investors and for terror funding. Netizens, as it turns out, were not very welcoming of the proposed bill.
For the uninitiated, the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 “seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and its uses.” This bill also aims to create a framework for creation of official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Soon after this news became viral, industry experts and netizens criticised the move whereas some used this as an opportunity to share some hilarious memes. Founder and CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber Ashish Singhal tweeted, “I’m aware of the frenzy caused by recent news around Crypto. I urge you to remain calm and like always, DYOR before arriving at a rushed conclusion. Recent conversations w/the Govt point towards a progressive approach and there is no concrete statement made which claims otherwise.”
“The definition of what constitutes ‘private cryptocurrency’ is not available anywhere, no matter whichever [way] we try to read it. Also concerning the few lines that we have today from the government, it is same as the bill they presented before. Nothing seems to have changed. We have to tread cautiously about this. It is a very arbitrary title that was there last time, it is the same now as well. If we go by the three, four lines that have come out today, it could seem like there is no new bill, it is the same as the old one. For the time being, we just cannot make any sense out of this yet. But yes, investors are certainly apprehensive,” co-founder and CEO of Unocoin Sathvik Vishwanath told BusinessToday.In.
Zeroda and True Beacon co-founder Nikhil Kamath also decided to give his two cents as crypto was ruling the trending chart on Twitter. Kamath tweeted, “Is the Indian government banning cryptos? What happens to everything in circulation already?”
Cryptocurrency prices today
After the news of government’s plans to bring a bill to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India became public, prices of all cryptos went down by around 15 per cent and more. Bitcoin is trading at Rs 37.55 lakh in India versus Rs 42.66 lakh in major global exchanges. Dogecoin is now down 18.28 per cent whereas Ethereum is down 17.53 per cent today. While Shiba Inu tanked 24.34 per cent, BTC dropped by over 17 per cent as of 7:32 am today.
Also read: A crypto wallet could solve India's problems, think tank Policy 4.0 suggests
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