New FUD From Indian Media: India Proposes 10-Year Jail Term For Cryptocurrency Use!

Not a day goes by without some Indian media or the other shit posting to get their views and subscription. Here's a new case where BloombergQuint has published an article with no known sources, or evidence merely speculating on a possibility of a ban and how it may be implemented.

The latest claim is that Indian government is considering 10 year jail term for cryptocurrency use, possession or trading. How can we simply believe this claim? We shouldn't until there is an official word on this from the Finance Ministry.

Aside from the difficulty of banning or the implementation of such ban it will be hard to force users to stop using it. But the article speaks to this in some manner. Trying to generate fear amongst users.

Points from the article which bring the latest FUD but hold absolutely no ground as they have no been officially confirmed by the government.

1. India has proposed a jail term of one to 10 years for those who mine, hold or sell cryptocurrencies, a move that will double down on restrictions already placed by the Reserve Bank of India on cryptocurrencies.
2. The government will also propose the introduction of an official ‘Digital Rupee’ in consultation with the central board of the Reserve Bank of India, according to the draft Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019, which was accessed by BloombergQuint.
3. The Bill proposes a penalty—which may be prescribed by the central government—along with a jail term of up to 10 years, for those who “mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies directly or indirectly”. Offences such as these would be “cognisable and non-bailable”, according to the draft bill.
4. If any conduct is punishable under any other law, this Act will be in addition to, and not in derogation of such law,” it said.
5. The court, according to the draft bill, shall decide the appropriate prison sentence and a fine for an offence by/Culpability of the accused. Actual and intended gain made and loss caused/Repetitive nature of offence/Harm caused to the system.
6. The penalty imposed on the accused, according to the bill, shall be either thrice the loss caused to the system or three-fold the gains made by him/her, whichever is higher. If the loss or gain can't be reasonably determined, the maximum fine that can be imposed may be notified by the government.
7. The draft bill also states that if a violation under the Act is done by a corporate body, the director, members of managing committee, chief executive officer, manager, among other executives, will be held liable. It also seeks to protect action taken by central government officers in “good faith” under the Act from legal proceedings.
8. A person holding cryptocurrency, will have to declare and dispose it within 90 days from the date of commencement of the Act, as per the draft bill, in accordance with the prescription of central government.
9. The draft bill proposes to amend the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, to include under its purview transactions like mining, holding, generating, selling, transfer and disposal of cryptocurrency. Seeks to have an appropriate regulator under the Act that will have representatives from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, RBI, SEBI, and any other regulator notified by the central government.
10. The central government may approve digital rupee to be a legal tender, in consultation with the RBI’s central board. The digital rupee would be governed by regulations that will be notified by the central bank under relevant provisions of RBI Act, 1934, the draft bill said.
11. The draft bill also grants power to the RBI to notify any official foreign digital currency to be recognised as a foreign currency in India. Such recognised currencies will be governed by regulations notified by the RBI under relevant provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

It's not possible to comment on any of this for the time being as it's hard to substantiate if there's any truth to these so called findings from BQ. At best it seems like a great way to generate new hits and subscription to their website.

Garg committee is said to be submitting the draft to the Finance Ministry so we should expect to hear a word from them soon. Next month the case against RBI moves forward in the Supreme Court and the court too has demanded that Union of India submit the draft to the court as soon as it's available.

My expectation is that the draft will be shared with the court once the Ministry reviews it and adheres to the guidelines of the court and perhaps at this point it might be made available to the public as well for a review (hopefully).

Until we get a chance to read the actual draft let us be aware and be weary of media houses that may potentially create FUD and fake articles to boost their views.

---

If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:

1. Why You Should Vote For Firepower As Witness—Witness Campaign Post From India!
2. Steem.Chat Contest #81

---

Follow Me: @firepower