The Indian government has decided to regulate Bitcoin and plans to legalize Bitcoin in the short term

Zebpay, India’s leading bitcoin exchange, has revealed that an Indian government committee has decided to regulate bitcoin.

On April 14, according to Babbitt, the Indian Ministry of Finance’s interdisciplinary committee is actively investigating the legal status of Bitcoin in the country and considering the possibility of regulating the market.

Indian Bitcoin Exchanges Contribute

Over the past three years, despite the lack of regulatory provisions in the digital currency industry and market, India’s top three bitcoin exchanges, including Zebpay, Coinsecure and Unocoin, have operated in a self-regulated manner by adopting strict KYC and AML systems.

Efforts by Indian bitcoin exchanges to self-regulate the market have led the Indian government to reconsider the bitcoin and digital currency space, despite criticism from some Indian politicians who lack awareness of cryptocurrencies.

Kirit Somaiyay, a member of parliament from India’s ruling Bharatiya Party, has come under heavy criticism for describing Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme, Cointelegraph reported on March 24.

In a letter to the Indian Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Somaiya explained that Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme. However, Somaiya was heavily criticized for his ignorance of the structural and fundamental differences between Ponzi schemes and Bitcoin.

Bitcoin legalization in India

Despite the negative attitude of some politicians, the Indian government has decided to regulate the Bitcoin market and provide a fair market for Bitcoin exchanges, which have already drawn a lot of resources to standardize the market and industry.

Back in April this year, Mohit Kalra, CEO of Coinsecure, one of India’s largest bitcoin exchanges, said in an interview that the Indian government has finally decided to take bitcoin seriously and is considering the possibility of regulating the market.

Kalra said:

“Finally, there is some positive news coming out of the Bitcoin industry. Government agencies are now taking the industry seriously. We have been trying to get their attention for several years. I am glad that the moment has finally arrived at the right time. At Coinsecure, we are seeing massive growth in the number of users and transaction volumes. We are very optimistic about the next three months.”

On June 20, CNBC India announced that the Indian Ministry of Finance’s interdisciplinary committee has decided to regulate Bitcoin and is currently setting up a working group to create various regulatory frameworks aimed at legalizing Bitcoin in the short term.

Following India’s previous announcement, Chris Burniske, head of crypto at ARK Invest, noted that bitcoin trading volumes have been rising in India. Burniske previously revealed that the Indian bitcoin exchange market accounts for 11% of global bitcoin-dollar trading volume.

Hi India, we are waiting for you! Curious to see how Bitcoin develops in India. - Chris Burniske (@ARKblockchain)

The legalization of Bitcoin in India is expected to further significantly increase Bitcoin trading volume and Bitcoin activity in India.