Following the ban on Virtual Currencies by the Reserve Bank Of India, you have 90 days to sell your investments in Virtual Currencies like Bitcoins and Etherium – post which you will not be able to receive the credit of the sale proceeds into your bank account.
I had earlier warned my readers against investing in Virtual Currencies like Bitcoins.
Reserve Bank of India has, vide Notification No. RBI/2017- 18/154 dated 06.04.2018, bared all Financial Institutions like Banks (including Payment Banks), NBFCs and Payment System Providers – regulated by it from dealing in Virtual Currencies (VCs) or providing services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling VCs.
Post this notification, none of the Financial Institutions in India shall facilitate any transaction relating to the buying or selling of Virtual Currencies like Bitcoins in India.
This means, post this ban, you will not be able to make any payment from your bank account (including debit/credit cards or wallets) for the purchase of VCs like Bitcoins. But most importantly, you will also not be able to get the credit of the sale proceeds of Virtual Currencies into your bank account. Thus even if you sell your Bitcoin investments you will not be able to get the credit of the sale value into your bank account.
But if you are an Indian Citizen with an existing investment in VCs like Bitcoin, there is no need to hit the panic button just yet.
The RBI has given relief to existing investors in Virtual Currencies like Bitcoins, Ethereum, Ripple etc by allowing them a three month window within which they need to sell their holdings and they will be able to receive the credit of the sale proceeds into your bank account.
Post this 3 month window will not be able to get the credit of the proceeds from the sale of Virtual Currencies into your bank account and your investments in Bitcoins would effectively be gone for good – forever.
Note that post this ban on Virtual Currencies by RBI in India, all existing investors in India would rush to liquidate their Virtual Coin investments. This large scale selling would lead to a crash in Bitcoin/Ethereum prices – so you too need to act fast and sell early so that you can salvage the maximum value out of your investments. Also, if you make any profits from your Virtual Currency Investments in the process, may sure to pay the applicable Capital Gain Taxes.
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