India Crypto Regulations

India has been weighing its regulations on cryptocurrency for the past few months and it seems the government will finally come to a conclusion about blockchain and digital currencies by the end of 2018, Quartz India reports.

The Finance Ministry Panel in India is still evaluating how to treat blockchain and cryptocurrencies separately. The crypto ban in the country was first announced back in early April of this year, but the country’s regulators didn’t act on anything until July.

All of India’s crypto ban announcements have come by way of local media sources, but nothing has come directly from the Reserve Bank of India. Back in July, it was reported that the Reserve Bank of India banned all crypto banking services after July fifth.

Any business that handles digital currencies would no longer have access to banking services within India. There were a few petitions to get this banking ban pushed back but the ban went into effect on the date planned. A final date for revoking the banking ban is set for September 11th.

Now, the country’s regulators are trying to find a way to adopt blockchain technology without having to revoke its original ban on cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain Integration

“Blockchain is an interesting thing. We definitely want to milk it effectively for financial transactions. So all officials are really trying hard to understand how to separately use blockchain, without cryptocurrency,” an anonymous senior government official told QZ. “And understanding a new software takes time.”

This official said that the panel still has tons of studying that they need to do on the cryptocurrency and blockchain issues. The key issue they are facing is how to separate them and if regulations can be drawn up to push the use of blockchain independently.

The panel should come to their conclusion by the end of the year, but that still could be pushed back some.

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