Estimating the legality of Bitcoin Mining in India

Current crypto trends in the country

Recently the time window was expired, which was given to all the cryptocurrency based organizations, by the Reserve Bank of India, in order to put a full stop to all the cryptocurrency related transactions which intern might lead to the closure of bank accounts. The Reserve Bank of India made an appeal to all of the cryptocurrency related institutions to seize all the Indian Rupee related transactions in order to safeguard the investments of their citizens.

Finance Minister’s take on Bitcoin

Due to which a number of Indian cryptocurrency exchanges had to face with a lot of resistance in their economy. Nevertheless the finance minister of India, Arun Jaitley had made a statement on 1st February 2018, that they would make sure that no illegal activities are undertaken under the cover of Bitcoin and also repeated that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not recognized as a legal tender in the country. However, neither the financial regulator nor the finance minister has made no unambiguous statement saying that Bitcoin mining, trading or investing is stamped illegal in the country.

Being the finance minister, Jaitley took a firm stance and reported to the parliament that he had already given clear instructions to the RBI to maintain a safe distance by disregarding the cryptocurrencies. He even enlightened everyone that the country lagged regulations for such virtual currencies.

Back in February 2017, the Finance Minister also made it very clear, referring to the traders and investors, in the cryptocurrency field in order to stay safe from them and in case of any losses the government is responsible in no way. However one can still incorporate the Virtual currencies in order to buy or sell goods and services but all the transactions fall under the unregulated state and are not vested with the government.

Is Bitcoin Mining illegal in India?

Mining Bitcoins basically is the creation of cryptocurrencies, and as it is not a process of using the currency, it can be concluded that Bitcoin mining is legal in India.

Acceptance of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain Technology was welcomed with open arms by the Finance Minister and made it very clear that the cryptocurrencies have no scope in the country but the concealed Blockchain Technology can be incorporated for research and developmental purposes.

Legal status on Mining in few other Countries

• • Even in the country of Japan, a similar attitude towards cryptocurrencies is can be observed by the financial regulators of a country, where the cryptocurrency is not completely banned but is prohibited from being used as a currency.

• • The United States of America, the Bitcoins, and other cryptocurrencies are classified as commodities by the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission. It is legal for cryptocurrencies to be converted to the Fiat currencies in the country.

• • On the other hand, the mining hub of the world and India’s old neighbor, China was affected by the recent torrential rains in the country which leads to the seizure of mining operations.

Founded in the year 2013, Genesis mining is one of the most transparent cryptocurrency mining company. It is also famous worldwide for its cloud mining services for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies.

Collaborative v/s Individual mining

Cryptocurrency mining is still risky if one considers getting a subscription to a cloud mining firm. Least risk is invited when one chooses to mine Bitcoins personally, where after mining is done, the rigs can be sold out from eBay at half or one-third of the prices. But mining profitability is estimated to be higher in a collaborative mining with a cloud mining pool than mining them individually. So it ultimately jots down to the user’s convenience for his acceptance of higher profitability or lower risk.

Disclaimer

Any of the any of the above-furnished information cannot be considered as a Legal notice by the RBI. This is just a generalized assumption that is made, pertaining to the original notice from the RBI. Prior to making any kind of investments, a clever man will always consider a professional for his advice on the matter. Hence one must not become victims by the fraudulent Initial  Coin Offerings and other investment offers that are offered to us, in the cryptocurrency sector. It demands surplus attention, the reasons being that it is not under the control of the government and hence one finds no help desk to return to, once a loss is experienced.