Experts divided on how far India’s ‘private crypto’ ban will go

November 26, 2021 Blockchain

Government documents from 2019 have been cited by an Indian crypto expert to suggest that the proposed ban on all “private cryptocurrencies” could include just about every crypto.

The Indian government this week announced it would introduce the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 when it convenes at the Winter Session on Monday.

The bill seeks a legislative vote on creating an official digital currency while imposing a ban on “all private cryptocurrencies.” However, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what exactly constitutes a “private cryptocurrency,” with some users speculating it could refer to “privacy” coins such as Monero (XMR) or Zcash (ZEC).

Naimish Sanghvi, founder of crypto news website Coin Crunch India, explained in a Thursday interview on India Upfront that by the government’s definition, private crypto could mean just about every cryptocurrency there is. He said:

“In the 2019 Department of Economic Affairs report on cryptocurrency, they essentially said that everything that is non-sovereign is designated as a private cryptocurrency.”
“And by that logic, it means that Bitcoin and Ethereum will come into that definition,” he said, adding that “anything issued by the government is public and everything issued by private players is public.”