Cryptocurrency rates in India have fallen below market levels
On 23 November, it was reported online that the Indian government intends to introduce a bill to ban all private cryptocurrencies.
The news caused panic among local traders, and today bitcoin, as well as other digital assets in India, fell below market value.
BTC on India's leading crypto exchange WazirX was trading at $54,900 compared to $56,750 on Binance - a difference of more than 3%, and momentarily as much as 15% off.
Some crypto investors started panicking to sell their digital assets after India's parliament published a list of cryptocurrency bills for discussion, Sharan Nair, chief commercial officer at CoinSwitch Kuber, said.
According to Bloomberg, the Indian government has no plans to ban crypto-assets, but is considering options on regulating digital currencies to protect citizens.
A bill is currently being drafted and will be presented to Parliament on November 29 by India's prime minister.
Bloomberg noted that politicians left themselves some room to maneuver with their November 23 statement, publishing a description of the bill on Parliament's website and stating that it seeks to ban all private cryptocurrencies, with "certain exceptions to promote the underlying cryptocurrency technology and its use."
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi held a meeting on cryptocurrencies, following which he said:
India will not allow unregulated crypto markets to become conduits for money laundering and terrorist financing.
And later in his speech, he called on democratic countries to cooperate to regulate private cryptocurrencies before they fall into "the wrong hands".