Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Budget 2018-19 and there were few mentions about cryptocurrency and bitcoin because of which cryptomarket just went bonkers and bitcoin fell from $10300 to $9600 in just few hours.
Fact 1:
Finance Minister: Government (Indian) will take actions against "Illicit activities"
Market interpretation: India banning cryptocurrencies
Clarification: Taking actions against "Illicit activities" does not mean banning cryptocurrency but making sure government regulations/laws are not broken and crypto assets are not used for illegal purposes. India has been taking about this from last 2 yrs and if government wanted to ban cryptocurrencies, they would have done.
Fact 2:
Finance Minister: Government does not recognize crypto as legal tender
Market Interpretation: Crypto ban all around
Clarification: Cryptocurrencies are not recognized as legal tender translates to "You cannot use crypto to buy and sell goods in India or cannot accept crypto as mode of payment"
Being an Indian, I am also closely watching the government in the hope that Indian Government will create proper regulations around crypto to make it legal tender.
The day crypto becomes legal tender or as mode of payment in India, I can almost guarantee that crypto will explode !