Over the last year, the nation of India has taken quite a few steps toward making the use of cryptocurrency within the country very difficult. However, the country’s apparent refusal to allow a domestic cryptocurrency industry may be costing the country to pay a massive toll of its own–roughly $13 billion, according to Sidharth Sogani, the CEO of crypto and blockchain research firm Crebaco Global, Inc.
Sogani’s estimation is reportedly based on an analysis of the amount of revenue that domestic cryptocurrency companies were projected to have generated if cryptocurrencies were given legal status within the country, including companies that relocated offshore after the Reserve Bank of India place heavy restrictions on interactions between Indian banks and cryptocurrency firms.
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The Indian government pushes for a crypto ban but remains bullish on blockchain
Sogani told AMBCrypto that $4.9 billion of the alleged $13 billion could be attributed to cryptocurrency whitepapers and similar business plans; $4.5 billion is attributed to miscellaneous jobs, including lawyers, event managers, and laborers; $2.1 billion of the lost revenue would have been from expert blockchain coders, and the remaining $1.27 billion would have come from content creators.
The 2018 soft ban has already made things difficult for any laymen to enter into crypto space. The only ones that are left are enthusiasts – whose careers are built in crypto .. A permanent ban is only going to rob these individuals of jobs, opportunities, and their future….
— Karthik (@Karthikdk72) July 27, 2019
Although the ban has not been put into place yet, its effects on the industry are already palpable: several Indian exchanges have already shut down due to regulatory woes over the last several months; Facebook’s Libra also made the decision not to launch in India (if, indeed, it launches at all.)