India's gold import ban proposal drives up Bitcoin trading searches

Rage Commentary : In order to combat the black market, terrorist activities and corruption, the Indian government announced the cancellation of large-denomination banknotes and will consider banning gold imports. This has led to a sharp rise in the price of rupees against Bitcoin. Although Bitcoin transactions in India are different from those in Western countries, the Indian market has a high demand for Bitcoin, which can be seen from the number of searches for Bitcoin transactions.

Translation: Annie_Xu

If the Indian Bullion & Jewellers Association (IBJA) report is confirmed, the government's crackdown on black market cash could lead to an additional ban on gold imports.

The trade association sent text messages to its 2,500 members informing them that the government was considering a ban on gold imports.

Surendra Mehta

IBJA National Secretary Surendra Mehta said:

"We have heard about this news (gold import ban) from some people, but there is no official news yet. The association supports the government's crackdown on black market cash and has informed members of the news. We hope they will fully support the government."

In addition, the government is tracking the information of domestic jewelers. "600 jewelers have received notices from the government tax department to submit transaction information as of November 8. We know that some members import gold just to get a premium for cash transactions. Therefore, if the government wants to prevent this behavior, it needs to consider banning gold imports. Or if all jewelers deposit cash or declare before November 15, there will be no ban on gold imports."

If the Indian public has less access to gold, demand for Bitcoin will increase. The rupee has already risen sharply against Bitcoin. Like the gold import ban, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's abolition of the 500 and 1,000 rupee denominations is also intended to combat black market funds.

Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of Zebpay, talks about the Bitcoin market in India. Users ask him about the huge differences between Bitcoin trading in India and in the West.

"We don't buy Bitcoin, so we only issue it in India. When the price goes up, there are more buyers than sellers. In order to balance the supply and demand of Zebpay, we have to keep the price going up. This is a common practice around the world. It's the same in China, where local demand causes Bitcoin prices to be higher than global prices." Many users are unclear about the company's relationship with Bitcoin, so Goenka explained Bitcoin in detail. He also pointed out that there is no trend to ban Bitcoin at present.

“Most Western governments have already regulated and legalized Bitcoin. This represents a trend for Bitcoin, not a ban. I believe the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also follow this trend.”

He said Zebpay has been in talks with government agencies about importing and exporting bitcoin.

Or it could do what the IRS did to Coinbase, or what the Indian government did to jewelers.

At the same time, it can be found that the search volume for "buy Bitcoin" in India is increasing this year.