First National e-Conference on “Regulation of Cryptocurrency in India” by RGNCLC, NLIU, Bhopal (Submit by 17 July)

The Rajiv Gandhi National Cyber Law Centre, National Law Institute University, Bhopal in association with School of Information Technology, RGPV, Bhopal, is organizing the first National e-Conference on “Regulation of Cryptocurrency in India” on 24th July 2021.

Purpose

The purpose of e-Conference is to invite academicians, researchers, domain experts, bankers and industry experts to ponder on the concept of cryptocurrency and its technical aspects along with evolution of an effective regulatory framework in India.

Concept Note

The power to regulate currency in a modern sovereign State is either with the Government or the Central Bank. A private decentralised cryptocurrency is neither issued by the State nor regulated by the State. Therefore, more than 8500 cryptocurrencies globally with a market Capitalisation of more than USD One Trillion do not have legal tender.

However, these cryptocurrencies are being used as money for trade and commerce, even when they do not fulfil the three essential characteristics of money, i.e.

(1) a medium of exchange;

(2) a store of value; and

(3) a unit of account.

These cryptocurrencies are widely used for trade and commerce on cyberspace, especially on deep web and dark web, due to their inherent characteristics of anonymity, low transaction cost, instantaneous transfer and non-trackability. Therefore, enabling an individual to protect her privacy and autonomy.

However, such anonymous cryptocurrencies are also being used in unlawful, illegal and terrorist activities. Hence, the use of cryptocurrencies for tax evasion, money laundering and terror financing are the challenges, which still need an answer.

The cryptocurrency revolution has taken the whole World by surprise. The sudden rise of cryptocurrency and lack of a concrete regulatory framework for the decentralised currency has provided delinquents with opportunities to use cryptocurrency for unlawful and illegal activities in the unregulated cyberspace, i.e. deep web and dark web.

The countries across the World have opted for a different approach towards cryptocurrency, viz. granting legal tender, treating cryptocurrency as a legal instrument but not at par with official currency, banning of cryptocurrency and indifferent approach.

In 2017, Japan passed a law recognizing Bitcoin as a legal payment method, whereas countries like USA, UK, Germany, France, Canada etc. allow not only the use of cryptocurrency but also tax transactions in cryptocurrency. Although these countries consider the cryptocurrency to be legal, there is no clarity with respect to whether to regulate the cryptocurrencies as a currency or as a security or as a crypto-asset.In contrast, countries like Algeria, Bolivia, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Nepal and Macedonia have barred cryptocurrency use.

Thus, there is a lot of disparity among the approaches of countries in the World.

In India, the cryptocurrency is not banned. The restriction imposed by the Reserve Bank of India through its circular dated 6th April 2018 was declared to be void on the ground of proportionality by the judgement of the Supreme Court of India.

At the same time, there is a draft bill, which is yet to be introduced in the Parliament of India to ban private cryptocurrencies in India. Thus, there is uncertainty w.r.t. the legal status of cryptocurrency in India.

Themes

• Cryptocurrency Regulation in India and Other Countries

• Bitcoin and its Development

• Cryptocurrency Bill in India

• Cryptocurrency as Money or Security

• Cryptocurrency and Anonymity

• Cryptocurrency and Cybercrime

• Cryptocurrency and Cyber-Fraud

• Bitcoin as Digital Gold

• Cryptocurrency and Smart Contract

• Cryptocurrency and Emerging Technologies

• Legality of Cryptocurrency

• Cryptocurrency Investigation

• Cryptocurrency and Legal Tender

• Government Issued Cryptocurrency

• Initial Coin Offer

• Transactional Issues in Cryptocurrency

• Impact of Cryptocurrency on the World Economy

We are inviting research papers for presentation during the e-Conference. The presented research papers shall be published in the form of a Book with an ISBN number.

The detailed brochure of the e-Conferences may be found on the NLIU website at https://www.nliu.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/National-eConference-on-Regulation-of-Cryptocurrency-in-India.pdf

Registration Fees

No Registration Fee required.

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/AMHcNtikazkaxVkw9

Prior registration is mandatory for paper presenters as well as participants. All the participants will receive the link to join the e-Conference on 23rd July 2021. The participants are advised to join the e-Conference ten minutes before the inaugural session.

All participants of the e-Conference will receive an electronic certificate.

Important Dates

Abstract Submission : 10th July 2021

Notification of Selected Abstracts : 20th July 2021

Last Date of Registration : 23rd July 2021

e-Conference Date : 24th July 2021

For any further queries, please feel free to contact us at ita2000@nliu.ac.in

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