Crypto prices today: Bitcoin was last trading 9.23 per cent higher at Rs 45,51,390
Prices of cryptocurrencies in Indian Rupee terms recovered from as much as a 15-20 per cent drop after the government announced that it will introduce the cryptocurrency bill in the upcoming Parliament’s winter session, that seeks to prohibit private cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin – the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency, has jumped by 9.3 per cent in the last 24 hours, as per data from CoinSwitch, at the time of writing this report. Similarly, ethereum – the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was up 9.1 per cent, Tether up by 4.9 per cent, Cardano up by 9.30 per cent.
Bitcoin was last trading 9.23 per cent higher at Rs 45,51,390, and ethereum was trading 9.65 per cent higher at Rs 3,46,266 at the time of writing the story, according to CoinSwitch data. On Tuesday, November 23, the government listed the crypto bill – ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021’, which will be listed along with a total of 26 other bills in the winter session that starts on November 29.
The crypto bill seeks to create a facilitative framework for the development of an official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bill also seeks to ban all private cryptocurrencies in the country, but will allow certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and its uses. All major crypto prices crashed by as much as 15 per cent and more after the government’s announcement. The impact of the announcement on global crypto prices was negligible.
”The crypto bill should be flexible enough for young blockchain projects to flourish and we strongly believe that there is a very strong case for a standard process for new cryptocurrencies before they get listed on any exchange in India for trading. I think popular crypto-assets like bitcoin, Ethereum will be pre-approved by the regulators for getting listed on the exchange,” said Mr Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin.
Domestic brokerage firm Motilal Oswal highlighted in its recent note on cryptocurrency that the total number of crypto owners in India now stands at 10.07 crore. US stands at second position with number of crypto owners at 2.7 crore, followed by Russia (1.7 crore) and Nigeria (1.3 crore), according to broker discovery and comparison platform BrokerChooser.
In terms of share of crypto investors as a percentage of population, India stands at 5th position at 7.3 per cent vs Ukraine (12.7 per cent), Russia (11.9 per cent), Kenya (8.5 per cent) and US (8.3 per cent).
”2 crore Indians and $5 billion worth of money is what India contributes to the world crypto economy. It not only creates a huge money markets and tax avenues for Indian govt but also adds employment opportunities for over 50k individuals. This is an industry that will keep growing and we need to find a way to coexist with it,” said Vinshu Gupta, Founder and Director, Nonceblox Blockchain.