What if the government bans cryptocurrency in India?

On Tuesday (January 2), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said “Bitcoins or such cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and those indulging in such transactions are doing it at their own risk”. After this statement, we have got several questions about bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies?

1. What if the government bans cryptocurrency in India?
2. Will I lose all my coins which are stored on Indian Exchanges?
3. I’m a heart patient, I don’t want to die anytime soon. So should I hold my coins in Indian Exchanges?
4. One of my friends is telling everyone to sell their coins ASAP. Should I listen to him and sell out my self-respect?
5. If in case, Government bans it and Indian Exchanges tells us to withdraw all coins ASAP. We will definitely face a huge loss because the market will collapse, in that case, what should we do?

So a lot has been happening around this cryptocurrency especially in India for all bad reasons, of course. Some are saying Government is most likely going to ban it and all Indian Exchanges will run away with our money because Crypto investments are subject to market risk! So if market collapse, all our money will collapse and blah blah blah…

Wrong! If somehow government manages to ban it which is unlikely to happen, all Indian exchanges will have to shut down for sure but they will give some buffer time for all users to either sell coins and withdraw to their respective banks or transfer it to some other exchange (though they will not tell this openly). These are just possibilities, We are 80% sure that none of these things will happen anytime soon.

But if it happens then the local market will have a slow death because of FUD, heart patients and children will try to get on the same boat in which some will face loss others will gain profit. (Good time for traders).

But if you don’t want to get on that boat and want to continue with this crypto journey, then here is what you should actually do:

Let’s take some commonly asked questions:

Q1. I have all my coins on Indian Exchanges and don’t want to transfer it to International Exchange. What should I do?
Hold on to them, no need of transferring them right now. Just keep an account on International Exchange ready for the worst-case scenario.

Q2. If I transfer it to International Exchange and in future if I want to withdraw it to my bank account then what to do?

1. So here comes the main part. For this, you will need an account on Cex.io and International Visa/Master Card.
2. But sadly new registrations on cex.io are halted due to high traffic as of now, but we are not in hurry right? So whenever they permit, open an account and verify your identity and visa card (You will need Driving License or any Government approved ID card).
3. Now whenever you want to withdraw, just convert all your coins to either BTC, BCH or ETH on that International Exchange (Binance) and then transfer it to cex.io. (Note that minimum 0.01BTC, 0.01 BCH and 0.1ETH is required in CEX in order to sell).
4. Currently, we can sell/buy only BTC, BCH or ETH and considering the transactions fees, we will suggest going with ETH. (Note: Cex.io has 5 other wallets like XRP, DASH, ZEC, GHS, BTG but we can sell/buy only BTC, BCH or ETH).
5. Once you transfer it to cex.io, sell your ETH in USD.
6. Withdraw USD to your Bank with a nominal fee of $3.80 (around Rs.240) for Card (2-3 days) and $50 for Bank Transfer (up to 3 days). (Note: You can withdraw min $20 and max $500 (if card is verified) and max $2000 (if address is also verified)).
7. So, don’t panic. If something happens then instead of selling for a huge loss, transfer it to Binance.
8. You can withdraw to your bank whenever you want.
9. Those who don’t hold a good amount of coins, sorry! It’s on you to either get rid of them in upcoming days or wait till the Government’s decision (most likely it will be positive) or find a friend who can handle them internationally and withdraw them along with his coins in future. That’s up to you, no one can predict the future or know what’s in other people’s mind, only some insider can give us the info about what’s actually happening inside the gov cell.

Final Verdict:

We guess the government will bring some regulations and restrictions just to discourage all the users from trading inside India.They can’t do anything about the international market though. We all know, one can block sites but can’t block the entire Internet, IYKWIM. And even if they ban it and pass an order to close Indian exchanges, they will definitely give us time for withdrawing/transferring so don’t worry, just wait and don’t spread rumours.

Any doubts? Comment below!