Want to buy, trade or invest in cryptocurrencies but not sure if cryptocurrency is legal in India? You’re not alone. With the rise and rise of crypto and blockchain in India, many have asked us if it is legal to own and use crypto assets in the country — and we’re happy to answer.
There is no law in India that states whether is cryptocurrency legal in India as of October 2020. However, a recent ruling by India’s Supreme Court has lent the crypto industry some much needed credibility.
Cryptocurrencies in India remain unregulated as of 2020. As such, it is currently neither legal nor illegal to buy, own or use crypto coins such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) in the country.
Despite the lack of clarity (and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) on whether is cryptocurrency trading in India legal, crypto exchanges in the country have seen at least a 10x growth in trading volume on their platforms this year.
Source: CoinDesk
There is no entity regulating cryptocurrencies in India as of 2020.
India’s central bank and monetary regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is currently working on drafting a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies and related crypto entities in the country. Industry players are hopeful that the bill will help answer the question of: is cryptocurrency legal in India?
Here’s everything you need to know about whether is cryptocurrency legal in India and the country’s path towards regulating the crypto industry so far:
February 2017: RBI published a circular cautioning the public about the potential risks that they may face in the crypto space and reminded them that they were engaging in such activities at their own risk.
December 2017: RBI reminded the public that they have not issued licenses to any entity or company to operate crypto-related businesses or issue Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
April 2018: RBI imposed a blanket ban on the provision of crypto-related financial services in India by regulated entities. Unfortunately, many also misinterpreted the directive as a ban on cryptocurrency ownership and trading as a whole (it wasn’t). Fortunately, the ban was later overturned by India’s Supreme Court.
December 2019: RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that the central bank will only seriously explore the possibility of issuing a central bank digital currency for India “as and when the technology evolves with adequate safeguards”.
March 2020: The Supreme Court of India overturned RBI’s ban on the basis that it was unconstitutional, thus providing greater clarity on whether is cryptocurrency legal in India — at least for the time being.
May 2020: RBI clarified that India’s banks can indeed provide banking services to crypto-related entities and companies.
Now that we’ve discussed is cryptocurrency legal in India, let’s now look at the Indian government’s approach to cryptocurrency so far.
We know for sure that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a fan of blockchain—the distributed ledger technology on which cryptocurrencies operate—as he has repeatedly
Furthermore, the majority of India’s state governments are adopting cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies in one way or another.
As such, technology investors and crypto enthusiasts alike remain bullish about the prospects of crypto assets and its related activities getting the legal nod in India.
So, is cryptocurrency legal in India in 2020? We can, at the very least, say that there is no ban on buying, owning, using, trading, or investing in cryptocurrency in India at the time of writing.
To learn how to get started doing so, do check out our guides on how to buy Bitcoin as well as other popular crypto coins in India.
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