The CEO and founder of the biggest Indian crypto exchange WazirX, Nischal Shetty, has just tweeted that his company doubled its trading volumes in February despite the possible imminent crypto ban by the Indian government.
WazirX was launched in March 2018 just as there was a blanket ban of all crypto put in place by the Reserve Bank of India. Crypto became legal again recently, but the government of India is now working again on a bill that would make it illegal to buy or sell crypto in the country.
While outside of India, Tesla and MicroStrategy are making the news for their crypto investments, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das, has completely opposite plans:
“We have certain major concerns about cryptocurrency. We have communicated them to the government. It is under consideration in the government and I do expect and I think sooner or later, the government will take a call and if required, the Parliament also will consider and decide.”
Das commented that crypto is worrisome from a “financial stability angle” and his bank has notified the government regarding this concern. This has probably a lot to do with crypto being an unwanted rival to the future release of India’s CBDC.
The CEO of WazirX responded:
“Crypto is a global phenomenon. The moment a Tesla spends $1.5 billion, your wealth in India has increased. Most of your investments are very local, but in crypto, anyone anywhere in the world can affect your wealth. People in India have been joining based on all of this positive news that’s been coming.”