Quote from: bitdragon84 on September 21, 2017, 09:14:03 PM

My 2 paisa on the topic.

India is not a dictatorship like China, it will take another Mudi government to get there but I digress.

There are laws in India and RBI, government need to work in the ambit of law.

To ban Bitcoin government needs to make an amendment to ITA act, making an exception for Bitcoin as "Virtual currency is not an electronic document". Only center and not RBI can do this. One of the many reasons RBI stays away from Bitcoin is that it cannot amend ITA to ban virtual currency or it may have done so long time back. This is what law firms mean by "under current legal framework bitcoin is legal" because it fits the definition of electronic document.

RBI has to amend FEMA, RBI act to declare it a currency, which I doubt it will do. Declaring Bitcoin currency opens a Pandora's box for central banks. This is why RBI wants SEBI to regulate it as "virtual good" or movable property. SEBI is pushing back saying it is not a commodity.

The government can ban Bitcoin but it will need amendments to the act.

Banning is hard to enforce and will push Bitcoin underground. India is not like China and it is not easy for the central government to enforce compliance. Remember AP government is part of Ethereum alliance. It is easier for Finmin/government to regulate it, get the taxes and keep an eye on ledgers to track money laundering.

India and China have two completely different ideologies, with India being identified more by the policies of United states than China , so we can guess what we are going to follow,
And Why China is cracking down on cryptocurrencies is obvious. US and some other democracies are doing the biggest ICOs in the world. AND THEY ARE CONTINUING WITH IT in some kind of regulated manner. China is a communist country, cryptocurrencies will free people of China's economic hold, which it can't allow. Communism is very strict with having state control over important items. That's why China also has many censorship laws.

Chinese users used Bitcoins to invest in foreign markets, which is somewhat prohibited in China and is allowed only under special conditions. Also, China aims to launch a cryptocurrency built by state to replace its other currency. So ICOs run counter to what it believes is its exclusive right.

and the Chinese exchanges and whales, traders have already shifted to Korea, look at Bithumb's volume.