Cryptocurrency This Week: India Likely To Ban Cryptocurrency, US To Integrate Crypto Features To Dollars & More

The cryptocurrency community is in a dilemma as the Indian government recently announced that it was planning to introduce legislation to ban cryptocurrencies. The finance ministry, on June 12, has passed a draft cabinet note which seeks to set up a legal framework for banning cryptocurrency in India. According to media reports, the note has been shared with the other ministries for consideration. However, the details of the draft are not available.

The report stated that the government would lean on a previously drafted bill by Garg committee, from July 2019, which proposed all forms of cryptocurrency are banned and anyone caught holding them could face a hefty fine and up to ten years imprisonment.

“It’s not clear whether the finance ministry intends to work upon the old draconian crypto bill or whether they plan to work on bringing a new bill,” said Nischal Shetty, CEO, WazirX.

Shetty, in a blog post, said with over 5 Mn young crypto enthusiasts, India is poised to gain a big share of the $250 Bn crypto market. Further, he said that the government should revisit the entire bill and think in the direction of innovation and encourage a fast-growing industry as it is in India’s best interest.

Calling for a crypto-friendly law, Shetty said that crypto startups have been generating jobs across a variety of functions, including legal, compliance, tech, marketing, business development and finance in India and abroad, amid the pandemic-created economic crisis. Also, he said that some of the top-notch projects have come out of India. “Imagine what we can achieve with positive regulation,” added Shetty.

Also, many crypto exchange founders and startup CEOs told CoinDesk that the rumours of India considering a new ban on crypto may be premature.

Day 589

Yet another FUD is here. Few things to note:

1. Its just a note
2. Committee will need to be formed
3. Draft needed
4. Industry consultations
5. Parliamentary approval

I’m confident our PM will not stop a booming sector ?#IndiaWantsCryptohttps://t.co/ae5Lx6PX3r

— Nischal (WazirX) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) June 12, 2020

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of writing was $9410.74, with a market cap of 173.21 Bn, compared to last week (June 9, 2020) which stood at $9,696.45, with a market cap of $178.40 Bn.

Source: coinmarketcap.com

Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, was priced at $230.19, with a market cap of $25.63 Bn at the time of writing, compared to last week (June 9, 2020), where the price of the cryptocurrency was $243.28, with a market cap of $27 Bn.

Cryptocurrency News Of The Week: 

CoinDCX Launches Crypto Content Platform, DCX Learn 

Mumbai-based cryptocurrency exchange aggregator CoinDCX recently announced that it has launched a new online platform and subsidiary called DCX Learn, a holistic resource for cryptocurrency and blockchain educational content. As part of the #TryCrypto initiative, the company aims to onboard 50 Mn Indian crypto users in the coming days and also plans to expand its reach towards borderless financial services digital asset adoption. 

CoinDCX’s cofounder and CEO Sumit Gupta, in a press release, said DCX Learn will provide users with the knowledge to navigate the crypto market. Further, CoinDCX said that the new crypto and blockchain content platform will provide learning materials in the form of guides, articles, online courses, interactive lectures and free quizzes and more.

US Govt Looks To Add Crypto Features To Dollars  

The national science foundation (NSF), an independent agency of the US government, awarded a $225K research grant to KRNC, a Los Angeles-based blockchain startup to create a new protocol that could add crypto features to their current fiat currency (government-issued currency). Clint Ehrlich, the project’s chief scientist, said in a press release that KRNC takes the influence of Bitcoin and adds them to money the public already owns. “It is the virtual equivalent of taping gold to everyone’s dollar bills,” he added.

Japanese Crypto Traders Prefers Ripple Over Ethereum 

According to a recent survey posted by BITMAX, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading platform stated that nearly 25% of the 1,498 people surveyed said that Ripple (XRP) was their favourite cryptocurrency, compared to 26% who preferred BTC and 9% who preferred ETH. Last year, Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) also had reported similar findings, where XRP was second behind BTC and ETH.

Paxful, OKEx Collaborates To Unleash Fiat-to-Crypto Payment Capabilities 

Wilmington-based peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace recently announced that it has collaborated with Malta-based crypto exchange platform, OKEx for the conversion of fiat-to-crypto payment capabilities. With this, OKEx users will not be able to buy bitcoin with over 160 fiat currencies, as well as access gift cards, online wallets, domestic wire transfers and more.

Ray Youssef, cofounder and CEO at Paxful said, with this partnership, we hope to continue to build the ecosystem together and make crypto more accessible as a real-world payment method.