Paving the way for an official digital currency? India prepares to pass legislation to ban most private cryptocurrencies

Earlier this year, the Indian government considered defining the possession, issuance, development, trading and transfer of crypto assets as a crime, but did not introduce a related bill.

As the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, the price of Bitcoin is currently hovering at $60,000. The price of bitcoin has more than doubled so far this year, attracting a number of Indian investors to the market. According to estimates, there are about 15 to 20 million cryptocurrency investors in India, holding a total cryptocurrency market capitalization of about 400 billion rupees (equivalent to about $5.39 billion).