In the background of piling up cryptocurrency regulations, Indians are engaging in massive cryptocurrency transactions as they acquire the virtual currencies such as Bitcoin from their relatives and friends with an overseas account at a time when major Banks like CitiBank disallows to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin through credit/debit card.
The government of India is toiling hard to strengthen their regulatory overdrive over the functioning of cryptocurrencies in India. Notices were issued earlier this month to about 100,000 cryptocurrency traders urging them to pay taxes on the profits earned from Cryptocurrency trading.
BACC or Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee consisting of members coming from 7 cryptocurrency exchanges is pondering over various initiatives like creation of a cryptocurrency database for complying with the government mandates.
Times of India, an Indian daily threw light on the whole situation by pointing out that:
“With Indian exchanges like Unocoin, Zebpay, Coinsecure, keen on increasing regulation and scrutiny into transactions, bitcoin aficionados says buying from US exchanges is a more popular alternative for purchases.”
With the tightening of regulations, Indian Bitcoin “enthusiasts are now tapping into their own NRI [non-resident Indian] network of friends and family members,” as revealed by the news outlet.
L R Dinesh one such avid bitcoin enthusiast who uses the cryptocurrency mode for fuelling his international purchases told the publication that:
“For the online tech community, there are some who receive bitcoins as payment for gadget and video game reviews. But for regular purchases, one has to get a relative or friend with an overseas account to send over bitcoins.”
The news outlet conveyed that as per Dana L Coe, the CEO of bitcoin hardware wallet Bitlox, one of the most luring characteristic of Bitcoin is its inherent privacy.
He explained saying that:
“If you are purchasing a particular medicine and someone collects the data and sells it to a pharmaceutical company — these companies can use sets of such demographic information to increase prices. Differential pricing, blanket invasion of privacy cannot happen if one uses anonymous and private payments. People would want to shield their payments from the government, corporates or even their own families. With big data and consumer tracking websites, the need for privacy is heightened.”
The publication agreed to the fact that Bitcoin allows for advanced security options on purchases making it a favorite amongst Indians who wish to avail such opportunities.
Dinesh asserted that, “The requirement of Aadhaar is a dampener,” while hinting at the 12-digit unique identification number issued to every Indian resident on the basis of their demographic and biometric data.
He emphasized that:
“The community of techies, bloggers and geeks are quite antipathic to the continuous stem of leaks and insecurities reported with Aadhaar. To try and unite bitcoins with compliance is going to keep real bitcoin miners away from Indian exchanges.”
Damodharan Sampathkumar belonging to Renovite Technologies was quoted as saying that:
“In India, RBI has mandated two-factor authentication for all online transactions. But outside of India, only single-factor authentication is required. So when it comes to using one’s credit or debit card to buy products on overseas sites one also runs the risk of compromising sensitive financial data and hacks. So using bitcoins would add one layer of security.”
Considering the above situation, we suggest your to read Advantages and Disadvantages of Bitcoin which may help you to make a better decision if you are considering to make international purchases via Bitcoins
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Rohit Kukreja Rohit Kukreja is a Commerce graduate with Financial Markets expertise involving Stocks, Forex, Futures & Options Market and now Bitcoins & Cryptocurrency Markets. Blockchain Enthusiast but not a techie, Rohit is an active member of various Blockchain & Crypto communities all over India.
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