{"id":36525,"date":"2021-02-16T15:51:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T13:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=36525"},"modified":"2025-08-29T06:46:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T03:46:23","slug":"opinion-a-ban-on-cryptocurrencies-in-india-would-be-a-1-trillion-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/opinion-a-ban-on-cryptocurrencies-in-india-would-be-a-1-trillion-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: A ban on cryptocurrencies in India would be a $1 trillion mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Balaji Srinivasan, the former Coinbase chief technology officer, said that banning cryptocurrencies in India would entail high <a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B6%D0%BA%D0%B8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alternative costs<\/a> for the country.<!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Banning crypto would be a reversal of economic liberalization in many ways. It would basically be banning the financial internet from entering the country. It\u2019d be a trillion dollar mistake for India. And there are cheaper ways of achieving the desired goals. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WYFbHIN6kk\">https:\/\/t.co\/WYFbHIN6kk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 balajis.com (@balajis) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/balajis\/status\/1361285040286560256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to the expert, potential restrictions on digital assets would reverse economic liberalization, effectively amounting to blocking the \u201cfinancial internet\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;It is very important that the forthcoming ban on possession, trading, mining and investment in cryptocurrency does not come into force. For India this would be a $1 trillion mistake, no exaggeration,&#8221; Srinivasan said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He is confident that the ban would not help authorities achieve the desired goal. In the expert&#8217;s view, the move would lead to capital outflows from the country and the development of the industry abroad.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;A ban on digital assets because of crimes linked to cryptocurrencies is akin to banning driving to deter drunk drivers,&#8221; Srinivasan added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If the bill is enacted, the investor argues, India would be 20% poorer over the next five years.<\/p>\n<p>The Parliament will consider the government <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/indian-parliament-to-consider-bill-banning-cryptocurrencies\">bill to ban digital assets<\/a> during the upcoming budget session. The country plans <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/india-weighs-launch-of-its-own-digital-currency\">to issue its own digital currency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2018, India banned banks and financial institutions from providing services to companies dealing with cryptocurrencies. In March last year, the Supreme Court lifted the restriction.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2020, India&#8217;s Central Bureau of Economic Intelligence proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/indian-regulator-proposes-18-tax-on-bitcoin-trading\">to levy a tax on cryptocurrency trading<\/a> under the goods and services tax at 18%.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2021, Bloomberg reported that the country&#8217;s authorities <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/bloomberg-india-to-allow-cryptocurrency-holders-to-close-positions-ahead-of-ban\">will ensure a smooth transition to a ban<\/a> on digital assets and would allow holders to unwind their positions.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklogfeed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForkLog Feed<\/a> \u2014 the full feed of news, <a href=\"https:\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForkLog<\/a> \u2014 the most important news and polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Balaji Srinivasan, the former Coinbase CTO, said that banning cryptocurrencies in India would entail high alternative costs for the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1269,278,1138],"class_list":["post-36525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-cryptocurrencies","tag-india","tag-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"15","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36527,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36525\/revisions\/36527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}