is India banning crypto and if that's the case what cryptocurrencies will be impacted and how
will this impact you on today's coin market cap episode we're jumping into the changing
world of cryptocurrency legislation in India how fast adoption is really growing in the region
and why the blockchain and crypto assets committee is set to make a difference
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those notifications not to miss out on new videos now let's dive in so starting off according to a
report by blockchain data platform chain analysis india's cryptocurrency markets grew by a huge 641%
in 2020 alone and india currently has two crypto unicorns the first reached a 1.1 billion valuation
in just August of 2021. this is the trading platform coin dcx and this attracted a host of
international investors from facebook's co-founder b capital group to coinbase ventures and even poly
chain capital the second coinswitch cooper raised 260 million dollars in a funding round led by the
big global crypto names like andreas and horowitz and coinbase ventures that crypto exchange is
currently valued at 1.9 billion in just 14 months the app now has more than 10 million users such
large growth it hasn't gone unnoticed prime minister modi's government actually introduced a
cryptocurrency and regulation of official digital currency bill in mid-november which sparked a lot
of confusion and not just in india but globally this bill not only highlighted regulation on
private digital currencies but it also opened up the conversation about an official digital
currency issued by the reserve bank of india so what does this bill mean for you as a user buying
and selling cryptocurrencies and what to expect from the official digital currency issued by the
rbi ravnic car ceo of coins for india is joining me now to discuss what it means for cryptocurrency
users so Ravneet me tell us what kind of impact would this have on users and where should they position
themselves now firstly there is a lot of confusion right now within the crypto investor community
given you know in the past we have seen government come out with similar announcements and plans to
ban cryptocurrencies which has resulted in a lot of panic selling and fear around you know amongst
the crypto investors in india and now we're seeing a similar pattern play out the good news is is
i don't think there is going to be a complete ban on cryptocurrencies per se i do think that
you know there might be a ban on cryptocurrencies as payments um but you know for the investors who
are looking at cryptocurrencies as a new asset class as you know a wealth creation opportunity
i think they need to remain you know patient they need to huddle and you know the excitement
i think we need to bring it back because we did see last year you know once india won the supreme
court court case against rbi the positive impact that had on the industry we saw you know somewhat
around an increase from 923 million dollars in cryptocurrencies to 6.6 billion dollars straight
after you know the the the ruling of uh supreme court about the rbi so you know it is an exciting
time and i think that one of the terms one of the things that has caused a lot of confusion
in the community is um the mention of privacy coins and what that could mean um now privacy
you know private cryptocurrencies could mean a lot of things it could mean privacy coins like
monero you know zcash dash it could mean private blockchains it could also mean essentially every
single cryptocurrency given all of them are privately held so you know this is a biggest
topic of debate at the moment so much confusion around this um but you know being part of bacc we
have been working closely with the government of india you know to create these regulations
and what this framework could look like and one of the things that i can tell you is um you know
when they talk about private cryptocurrencies they are talking about privacy coins
which use zero knowledge protocol so not so much every single cryptocurrency um but more towards
the privacy coins and ravnic makes an excellent point let's not forget cryptocurrency companies
in india have received global investments in the billions it seems like big players are open
to working with regulators michelle chatty the founder of cryptocurrency platform worthier x
highlighted that over 15 million people own crypto in india and he urged users not to panic
now there is already some unity in the space the blockchain and crypto assets committee has been
formed by exchanges as part of the internet and mobile association of india they're working very
closely with drafting what the future legislation could possibly look like so could this bridge the
conversation from the cryptocurrency community to help with the regulation this isn't the first time
potential restrictions on digital currencies have raggled crypto traders and investors in india one
of the world's fastest growing economies in 2018 the rbi ordered all banks to prevent transactions
that deal with virtual money popularly known as the crypto ban straight away this ban affected
not only users but also investors and exchanges and even miners this led to some intervention
with some of the indian crypto companies and associations challenging this directly with the
supreme court of india while some crypto companies resume trading others still saw it as a gray area
and actually decided to move operations elsewhere so overall as a kind of review of consensus how
much of a threat has this banned to organizations like yourself well jessica i don't think it's a
threat at all as the crypto community is currently taking it as i mentioned you know at coinspit
india exchange we are part of bacc we have been working with the government for the last one year
and you know helping them develop frameworks and you know regulatory guidelines as to what you know
this could look like and all the conversations we have had have been in a very positive direction
of course one of the you know serious concerns that the government has raised is around
cryptocurrency's role in criminal activities i mean i would argue that you know cryptocurrencies
and the role that they actually play in the criminal activity compared to you know your
traditional global banking systems and you know the fiat currencies um you know it is quite a
misleading uh statement however um in regards to the you know impact that um cryptocurrencies and
you know the this industry has made on india in just the last one year it's been absolutely
phenomenal i know personally for myself that there are a lot of global cryptocurrency players
who are just waiting to enter india so you know uh given the bill um it is around the corner now
hopefully in the positive direction as soon as it's passed through as soon as it's good news for
you know the investors and the crypto companies in india i think we're going to see an a thriving you
know new industry and i think it's very needed for india given you know cobit situation you know the
curve that um the economy had to take um so it is going to be such an amazing opportunity for
investors for wealth you know creation as a new asset class but also for entrepreneurs who are
looking at you know new job opportunities uh who are looking at an at the future you know um
of of what the future you know industries will be like so i think india is a phenomenal you know um
market for cryptocurrencies and um again i would like to emphasize to not take this as a threat
to not be threatened by it one of the things i would say to the cryptocurrency community in india
is to remain patient huddle um as much as you can and to you know just wait it out just wait for the
further um you know official guidelines we have seen this pattern before we have seen at the same
you know panic selling which then resulted into absolutely nothing so you know let's also remain
patient this time and um rest assured um the government has taken notice of the positive
impact that you know cryptocurrencies have had in india in the last year so um it's only you know
upwards and onwards so the consensus from the blockchain and crypto assets committee is that
although the level of government control does go against this decentralized nature of blockchain
there is still confidence that this will help India position itself as more of a dominant
player in the cryptocurrency space i want to turn to you all and ask do you guys feel the same way
share your thoughts i will be following this in our coverage of crypto in India as a follow-up
series if you do have any other questions you also can ask alex in the description box below
and also make sure to subscribe to have your say on what you'd like us to explore
next via our community polls that's all from me see you all again very soon