BITCOIN AND ITS FUTURE IN INDIA

                                    by Raghav Kumar
Crypto is a billion-dollar industry and many banks and billionaires like Elon Musk have invested in it. So
what does a bitcoin look like? Well, it can't be kept, it's a digital currency. In this digital era, nowadays
there's a currency called bitcoin, I'm sure that everyone would have heard of it but let me give some
insights about Bitcoin and the future in India. So applying the basic economics law let's have a sneak
peek! Though Bitcoin is completely legal in India, there was a banking ban from July 2018 – March 2020,
and in this time period

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 (“ODC Bill”) have been
submitted to generate a facilitative structure for the creation of the official digital currency to be
declared by the Reserve Bank Of India and hence this could mean, a ban all private cryptocurrencies in
India. Though no government globally has banned cryptocurrencies because something decentralised
cannot be banned completely. The concept of bitcoin sounds a bit complex but many people have
invested in India. Bitcoin(i. E cryptocurrency) have a variety of advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:-

No intermediary (like a third party a bank) is required hence charges are less in transferring money from
one nation to another.
No geographic barrier
Disadvantages:-

Since bitcoin is not a legal tender in India nobody can pay bitcoin to a shopkeeper to buy goods, the
consumer will have to pay in INR
If a wrong transfer is made the money cant be traced because the sender's and receiver's identity is not
reviled.
Since bitcoin is still not recognised in India, the future is still uncertain. However, if the government plans
to put a complete ban on cryptocurrencies in India which is very unlikely, the government will have to
come up with an idea to help over 7 million people who currently hold assets worth over $1 billion, on
how to compensate them for this. This would lead to an economic crisis in the country and eventually
protests which nowadays are just a tweet away. Virtual currencies like bitcoin empowered millions of
Indians to indulge and participate in the international market for cryptocurrencies. This made
transactions for Indians to any part of the world easier, more active, and more affordable and allowed
them to make well-informed choices on financing in one of the world’s most powerful producing assets.
In 2020, during the pandemic bitcoin created vast employment opportunities for people.

Bitcoin gets its worth and advantage because of the quick and fast transactions. Besides, India's Rupee
value is not like the developed nation like a USD OR EURO, and the most advanced nations have steady
currencies and the general society commonly exists on credit. But in India, the local fiat currency lowers
faster but there is a way out because of cryptocurrencies. Nowadays even a 5-year-old knows how to
operate a smartphone, so the rise of digitalization can save us.

The cryptocurrency trade is hence here to stay and it is necessary to promote it rather than putting a ban
on it. The RBI, along with SEBI and the government of India, should think about applying its
administrative capabilities and come up with an entirely fresh approach.

This will help India to be at par with the developed nations in the world. Some provisions like to
recognise cryptocurrency as a tradable commodity and investing in blockchain technology to increase
employability in that field and research and development in the data science and technology would help
the country on various levels, whether in investment possibilities, employment, or innovation.