The Indian government is reportedly planning to use the ordinance process to speed up its proposed cryptocurrency bill.
Similar to an executive ordinance in the USA, the Indian president, on the recommendation of the cabinet, enacts an ordinance law that, according to Wikipedia, is equivalent to a law of parliament. The route should only be taken when Parliament is not in session.
According to a CNBC-TV18 report on Friday, the government is aiming to get the “Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Law 2021” passed within one month of the regulation being approved. The Prime Minister’s Office and Treasury Department and Cabinet Secretariat have begun working out the details of the regulation.
The receipt of the bill would potentially usher in the development of a digital rupee while also banning “private cryptocurrencies” as stated in previous reports
What the bill would mean for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether is not clear, but the cryptocurrency industry has raised concerns that this could spell an outright ban.
This would pose a major threat to the country’s crypto industry, which has seen rapid growth since a central bank ban on cryptocurrency companies was lifted last March.
Local cryptocurrency exchanges recently launched a joint initiative, the # IndiaWantsBitcoin campaign, to persuade parliament to regulate cryptocurrencies rather than impose an outright ban.
