India’s market regulator is planning a framework to regulate the country’s bitcoin market, said three persons with direct knowledge of the matter. They declined to be named.
In its first meeting on 19 September, the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) recently formed committee on financial and regulatory technologies (CFRT) concluded that it may be crucial to regulate bitcoin transactions to ensure that India’s public issue norms are not breached.
The Sebi panel also intends to ensure that bitcoins, its derivatives, or any other cryptocurrency are not being used as a medium for funding illegal activities and no entity is able to divert black money through the virtual currency market.
Zebpay Bitcoin India is one of the well-known Android apps that enables transactions in bitcoins.
Regulators in India are yet to ascertain if these cryptocurrency exchanges, which compete with regulated payment gateways such as banks and VISA, are legal or not.
In 2009, bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency.
After linking a bank account to any mobile app or website, the cryptocurrency market enables any individual to create a cryptocurrency wallet and earn or pay any entity digitally.
Additionally, cryptocurrency enables any entity to collect money from far more than 200 investors in a financial year without requiring to follow public issue norms as under the country’s Companies Act.