India, the second-largest country in the world by population continues to dabble with the idea of implementing a full-scale ban on cryptocurrency operations. The latest to provide some clarity on the matter is the National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI). They said that they don’t intend to block cryptocurrency trading. Instead, it plans to leave the decision to individual banks and thus they can determine their own risk level.
While the country is still struggling with the second wave of COVID-19. The consequences of the pandemic have already caused colossal damages to the nation and many experts outlined the uncertainty which reigns in it. But despite the current catastrophic situation in the Asian country, trading volumes in cryptocurrencies have exploded over the past year.
Crypto startup founders, crypto investors, and enthusiasts came together to start a campaign called #IndiaWantsCrypto to educate people and local authorities about this new technology and what the future holds for us.
The leading news publication Economic Times reported that some bankers requested from the agency to block cryptocurrency transactions on its network. In its turn, the NPCI said it has no plans to ban digital asset operations and advised banking institutions to make their own decision.
As per the report, some local institutions have expelled traders who buy and sell cryptocurrencies. However, only a few of them restricted customers from crypto trading accounts via the united payments (UPI) interface and net banking.
The State of a dilemma for cryptocurrencies in India
India is home to now more than 5 crypto exchanges and millions of crypto traders trading in billions every month. Despite this craze operating with digital assets in India is a very complex process that causes a lot of controversies. Back in March 2018, the country’s central bank RBI banned cryptocurrency trading. Two years later, though, the Supreme court of India reversed the decision.
Despite being legally eligible to operate with digital assets, the nation’s authorities kept implementing stringent rules. Reports from earlier this year indicated that locals had to report all of their cryptocurrency activities to the authorities and according to a proposed bill – mining, trading, and custody of digital assets should pass as a punishable offense. Nevertheless, more recent reports said this proposition was overruled.
While, we are still unclear about the future of cryptocurrencies in India because of unclear government stand, bills, and policies. Startups, founders, and crypto traders are not stopping and keep building crypto services and keep trading in cryptocurrencies. NPCI’s decision came as a positive sign to all those who are keeping high hopes.
Some of the great crypto projects that started in the country are -
1. Matic/Polygon
The Swiss Army Knife of Ethereum Scaling. Polygon (formerly Matic Network) is a Layer-2 scaling solution with payment and lending solutions, atomic swaps, and improved dApp and DEX performance. It is currently been treated as one of the most important ethereum projects in the industry.
2. Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS)
Another great project is Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS). It is a Notification Protocol that enables users (Wallet Addresses) to receive notifications. Using the protocol, any dApp, service, or smart contract can send notifications to users(wallet addresses) in a platform-agnostic way (mobile, tablet, web, fav. wallets, etc).
Apart from above, there are many crypto exchanges operational in India -
[…] that the National Payments Corporation of India (NCP) which runs UPI in India has refused to ban cryptocurrency transactions and has instead asked banks to take a call based on their risk assessment. And despite […]