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WazirX CEO Asks Indian Finance Minister To Regulate Cryptocurrencies In The Country
There are currently ten cryptocurrency exchanges in India with a user base of 5 to 6 million. In October, India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley had a crucial meeting with industry stakeholders. At the meeting, they exhaustively discussed the possibility of banning private cryptocurrencies in India. However, experts say that the government is looking at prohibiting selling, buying and transacting in virtual currencies, thus allowing people to possess it.
Now, Nischal Shetty, the CEO of Indian crypto exchange WazirX, is trying to reach out to Mr. Jaitley to regulate Bitcoin and similar assets. He asked him to focus on the potential benefits rather than the misuse. He emphasized that every industry has their pros and cons but we should by equanimous in our judgment.
Dear @arunjaitley
If fear of misuse ruled us then we would never have:
1. Electricity for fear of electrocution2. Cars for fear of accidents 3. Cash for fear of black money
Yet we still have these because benefits outweigh the problems
Crypto is the same. Regulate & win
— Nischal (WazirX) (@NischalShetty) November 18, 2018
Currently, crypto has a blanket ban in the country as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut off the access to fiat liquidity. This has forced the crypto startups to flock to other crypto friendly regions like Malta. This did not influence Arun Jaitley’s stance. In the most recent parliamentary session he, in fact, doubled down on it causing a massive market sell-off in the BTC-INR market.
Despite these disheartening events, nothing is set in stone in India. The ban is only psychological and the constitution doesn’t support it. The constitution of India does not even recognize cryptocurrencies till now.
In the same Twitter thread, Shetty said:
“We need to tweet to our minister every day till we get a reply,” he wrote. “The more we tweet, the more chances of our voice being heard & crypto getting a positive regulation in India.”
He thinks if the community gets together, the concerns of the public will reach the top lawmakers. He even asked the media to help him in his effort.
I request the media & look up to them for help in our campaign for crypto in India. India is the only large democracy where blockchain innovation has been stiffled because of bank restriction @timesofindia @qzindia @htTweets @Inc42 @YourStoryCo @mint @the_hindu @ndtv @ZeeBusiness
— Nischal (WazirX) (@NischalShetty) November 18, 2018
However, Indian government is used to turning a blind eye towards their problems, it is highly possible that these efforts are in vain.
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