On November 24, the prices of major cryptocurrencies on platforms in India traded below global levels. Local traders reacted to media reports that a draft bill regulating digital assets would be prepared by February 2022.<\/p>\n
According to Sharan Naik, Chief Commercial Officer of CoinSwitch Kuber, quoted by The Block<\/a>, people began to panic. On the WazirX platform, the discount at one point exceeded 15%. As of writing, it had disappeared, according to CoinGecko<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is envisaged that India will abandon a complete ban on cryptocurrencies in favour of treating them as exchange-traded commodities. Local traders will be obliged to pay taxes<\/a> on transactions with these assets and income derived from relevant operations.<\/p>\n The document also mentions that the initiative aims to ban all private cryptocurrencies, with certain exceptions for the use of the technology underlying them.<\/p>\n According to sources from the publication, private digital assets include not only privacy coins like Monero, but all others that are not issued by the state.<\/p>\n According to News18<\/a>, authorities will develop a regulatory mechanism to prevent abuses involving cryptocurrencies, primarily in hawala<\/a> and terrorist financing. The government intends to track the provenance of digital assets.<\/p>\n Earlier, in late January 2021, media reported that Parliament planned to consider the government-proposed bill to ban cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n In June, Bloomberg sources also said that the government would amend the document and will consider the possibility of regulating<\/a> this class of assets.<\/p>\n