The victory of IAMAI against RBI is indeed a great achievement for the crypto community in India and over the globe as India has a global population share of about 17.7% and most of them are young professionals under the age of 50.

According to the research by CREBACO Global Inc, a research and intelligence company focused on Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies, India has a potential market size of over 12.9 Billion USD and the capacity to create 20000+ Jobs in the very first year.

What is commendable here is that the Supreme court understood the nitty-gritty of the case and declared the RBIs blanket ban as unconstitutional. Now, it’s an open market for over 4000+ crypto projects to come to India and innovate.

There are still a lot of misconceptions that the Crypto community and investors have in India following the judgment. Mr Sogani, Founder and CEO of CREBACO Global said, “Bitcoin cannot ever be a legal tender because usually a legal tender state ‘I promise to pay the bearer…’ and the central bank takes responsibility for the same. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency and is not eligible to come in the legal tender category.”

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The trading in Bitcoin was never banned but there was a blanket banking ban led by the Reserve Bank of India which has now been lifted and investors can trade freely through exchanges, by making deposits through banks.

This is an opportunity for a lot of startups to start innovating in Blockchain and cryptos space by developing new technologies wallets and payment systems. Earlier, there was a lot of reluctance in Indian startup space because of the banking ban, which made them move out of India mainly to Singapore and even the USA. These countries have witnessed hundreds of ICOs and VC investments raising billions of dollars as per the report from CREBACO. Venture capital firms in India were reluctant for the last one and half years for investments; but following the lifting of the ban, there can be a significant jump in Venture Capital Investments.

Following this judgment, Indians can now make or receive payments in Bitcoin subject to declaring it in the right manner. The date of receipt, time, and the Bitcoin to fiat conversion price must be recorded and maintained in the right manner and reported in the tax calculations.

Bitcoin falls into both the categories of payment and investment as a commodity and shall be treated accordingly.

Now banks will start its operations with Crypto companies and exchanges in a few months and banking facilities can be used normally as it was before.

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“The judgment has definitely reduced reluctance in Indian investors and Crypto community but many misunderstand Bitcoin to be completely regulated and legal now. Let me make one thing very clear, we still do not have any regulations from the Central Government, the Supreme Court judgment just marks Reserve Banks’ stance to be unconstitutional and has lifted the ban,” said Sogani. “As I have understood with the help of legal professionals, the RBI may challenge it as a review application but there is a very low possibility of it getting admitted. Even though the judgment is a historical one but it is still very early to call Bitcoin regulated or legal in India.”

According to Sogani, the industry still awaits clear regulations from SEBI, RBI, Ministry of Finance and Income Tax departments clarifying treatments of

1. Trading
2. Investments
3. Payments
4. Initial Coin Offerings
5. Security Token Offerings
6. Initial Exchange Offerings
7. Exchange Regulations and
8. Minimum Compliance Standards for entities.

“It is a completely new financial framework and a lot of work has to be done together with all departments,” said Mr. Jagdish Pandya, Co-Founder of CREBACO Global.

CREBACO plans to organize a sandbox and open panel to discuss the way several departments should regulate digital assets. Sogani wants to bring Crypto industry professionals’, Governments, Regulators, Key Opinion Leaders, Media and Corporates to have a dialogue to speed up the process of Crypto and Blockchain adoption in India because the majority of the other Nations already have regulations in place.

Further Reads:

• https://blog.crebaco.org/2020/03/04/status-of-bitcoin-after-the-supreme-courts-decision-to-lift-the-banking-ban-on-crypto-by-rbi-crebaco-clarifies-the-myths-and-facts-of-crypto-in-india/
• https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2018/19230/19230_2018_4_1501_21151_Order_04-Mar-2020.pdf
• https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/cryptocurrency/before-rbis-ban-crypto-market-stood-at-12-9-billion-in-india-5001611.html
• https://cointelegraph.com/news/verdict-in-india-imminent-rbi-cites-warren-buffet-skepticism-as-reason-to-ban-crypto
• https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/an-in-depth-analysis-by-crebaco-of-the-steering-committee-report-and-cryptocurrency-draft-bill-for-regulation-of-bitcoin-issued-by-the-ministry-of-finance-india-119091800558_1.html
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/sc-allows-trade-in-cryptocurrency-quashes-rbi-curb-on-use/articleshow/74470078.cms

SOURCE CREBACO Global Inc

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