Blockchain This Week: As Winter Session Of Parliament Looms, Crypto Industry On The Edge, & More

Dates may have not been announced for the winter session of Parliament, however, India’s crypto startups and founders are dreading the same. Reason? Speculations about a ban on cryptocurrencies always start doing the rounds around the time that Parliament begins its session. 

According to reports, the government is planning a two-week winter session of Parliament from December 21, 2020 –  January 2, 2021. However, some media reports have also suggested that this year’s winter session of Parliament could be cancelled due to rising Covid-19 cases across the country.

“Every time a new session is happening, there is a potential for that draft bill to come on the table, and I think that is where the speculation keeps on happening,” Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO of India’s first cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin, told Forkast.News.

Although, Vishwanath struck an optimistic note in claiming that any bill to ban cryptocurrencies in India, won’t be introduced anytime soon, because of the influence of the Indian crypto industry and the chatter generated around its potential by the media. 

“In all likelihood, it will be a ‘no’ (to banning crypto) as of this time because of our influence,” said Vishwanath, in a video interview with Forkast.News. “The industry has done this influence and the media has done this influence on why [cryptocurrencies] should be there in India — to not lose the opportunities.”

It is worth noting that the Indian crypto market has been buoyant this year, after the Supreme Court in March, lifted the Reserve Bank of India’s banking ban on cryptocurrencies. 

Homegrown crypto exchanges such as WazirX, CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber, among others, have seen increased traction on their platforms, while others such as Unocoin have attracted investments from early Tesla, Skype and Twitter backer, Draper Associates. Meanwhile, crypto exchanges based overseas, such as UAE-based Bitex and US-based crypto giant Coinbase have either begun their India operations or are actively planning to do so in the near future. 

While the signs have been encouraging, conversations with industry stakeholders reveal how the prevalent confusion around the regulatory scenario for crypto in India is dogging the industry’s growth. 

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