India is preparing to ban cryptocurrencies

India is preparing a far-reaching ban on cryptocurrencies. The government wants to bring a corresponding bill to parliament next week. The wording of the draft is reportedly not yet final. However, the proposal aims to ban all private cryptocurrencies. Only the central bank is to issue an official digital currency in the future. The development and use of blockchain technology should also continue to be possible. These are the mostly decentralized, unalterable registers on which cryptocurrencies are based, but which can also be used in completely different areas, such as logistics. News of the potentially imminent ban on crypto transactions caused panic among some Indian digital currency owners. Investors apparently fear that they will soon no longer be able to convert their holdings of cryptocurrencies into rupees and transfer them to Indian bank accounts. On the WazirX crypto exchange, popular in India, the price of the digital reserve currency Bitcoin collapsed by almost 15 percent within a short time. Other well-known crypto currencies such as Ethereum also crashed temporarily, while no comparable movements were discernible on the international crypto platforms without a direct connection to the Indian market. Regulators and governments around the world are working on rules and laws to regulate the rapidly growing crypto industry. This is not only about protecting consumers from risky and sometimes fraudulent investments, but also about possible dangers to the stability of the financial system as a whole. So far, the furthest has gone China, which has largely banned mining, the complex computing processes that keep crypto currencies like Bitcoin running, and crypto transactions. This has not harmed the course of Bitcoin & Co. in the medium term. India's central bank and government have long been skeptical of cryptocurrencies. In 2018 the government had already issued a partial ban on trading in digital currencies. However, the Supreme Court overturned it.