Indian Crypto Law Could Comes as Early as February

As reported in Indian news outlet Business Today, the Indian government will be introducing cryptocurrency regulation in February next year. The article stated:

“Finance Ministry officials have told Business Today Television that a law for cryptocurrencies would most likely come around by the time of the next general Budget.”

The Budget for 2022-23 is set to be presented on February 1st during the first half of the parliament’s Budget session.

Importantly, it seems the government is willing to regulate cryptocurrencies as an asset class, similar to how commodities are regulated, with taxation on transactions and gains. In June, Indian government officials hinted that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) should oversee regulations for the cryptocurrency sector after crypto is acknowledged as an asset class.

Albeit very good news, officials from the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are still fine-tuning the regulatory framework for crypto while India’s the central bank still has some “serious concerns” about crypto.

The Indian government seems to have moved away from banning cryptocurrencies. It previous had been considering a bill of 2019 titled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency” in order to ban all cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, except state-issued, central bank digital currencies.

In July, the finance minister announced a new crypto bill was ready for Cabinet. India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance issued a statement in September revealing that cryptocurrency legislation in India will be “distinct and unique.”

The CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, expressed his excitement on Indian crypto regulation:

Day 1091

India is finally on the path to crypto REGULATION!

The hard work of the 20 Million crypto community in India is finally starting to show results

But we’re just getting started. We need to keep BUIDLing to succeed

Let’s grow the ecosystem further #IndiaWantsCrypto

— Nischal (WazirX) (@NischalShetty) October 27, 2021

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