The Modi govt cracked down on the crypto trade making it nearly unviable for trade in an attempt to protect the retail trader. But why not a complete ban as the RBI had repeatedly advocated for?
Addressing this issue in a written reply to parliament, FM Nirmala Sitharaman clarified that "Any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only after significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards."
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Clearing the air that crypto will not be banned but the ambiquity around the legal status of digital tokens remains. Meanwhile the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been working on the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which is likely to introduced before the evasive crypto bill.