Indian Crypto entrepreneurs form an industry-focused association

New Delhi: Recently, the Ministry of Finance as per Lok Sabha Bulletin Part II, The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital currency Bill, 2021, has indicated that the Government of India is planning to introduce a ban on trading and investment in private cryptocurrencies and allow the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to develop and run its own digital currency, referred to as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This has triggered many conversations within media and the crypto market at large about the misconception of how the government defines cryptocurrencies (as private or public). Globally, top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other blockchain-based decentralised assets' are not viewed as private in nature, but rather more as Decentralised public assets, traded on public exchanges. The industry believes that banning is not the solution.

Most of the developed economies are working towards regulating it so that innovation around this new technology brings maximum fruits to their economies. Indian entrepreneurs should also be allowed to build companies of the future. The digital asset ecosystem is going to complement the economy and not displace it if properly regulated. "This is an opportunity for the Indian entrepreneurs to create global startups early on. The proposed ban may destroy these young startups giving employment to thousands. To engage in a dialogue with the Government, entrepreneurs have joined hands together to form ABCE- Association of Blockchain & Crypto Entrepreneurs," said Sidharth Sogani, CEO of CREBACO Global.

After success in South East Asia, (Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia) with the association of BlockOn Ventures, CREBACO has now emerged as an Indian leader in providing deep research and consulting and has proposed to Indian Government a comprehensive regulatory framework. The framework suggests definitions, current legal status, global status, India's own blockchain to actually run a CBDC. The framework also suggests methods to regulate the industry in a systematic manner keeping in mind the Indian ecosystem. CREBACO worked with the law firm Khaitan & Co on this.

"We were working on proposed regulations for almost a year," added Sogani in the conversation. The report was submitted to all the ministries including the Ministry of Finance, Meity, PMO, NITI Aayog, Standing Committee, Cabinet Secretaries, SEBI, RBI, etc, "We made sure the framework reaches the right people and was sent by courier and email to all the Members of Parliament," said Sidharth. "Few MPs even reverted, and explanations related to the ecosystem are in progress," added Sogani.

As per the research data of CREBACO, the crypto industry is huge in India already with a potential market size of $15 billion, over 10 million active users, and 5 major exchanges are already in operation for a few years. The industry has the potential to generate tax revenue for thousands of crores, generate employment opportunities for over 25,000 young and educated professionals, bring foreign direct investments in the country, and provide a livelihood to lakhs of crypto traders, majorly young in age.