Quick Take:
India's Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) has announced that it will shut down activities in the country.
This decision comes after the global crypto market crisis that has overturned bitcoin value from a peak value of $60,000 in November 2021 to below $20 000 in the second quarter of 2022. Notably, the global crypto market crisis has caused several crypto services to shut down worldwide.
However, in this case, BACC is shutting down not solely because of the global crypto crisis. This shut down is also due to the recent regulations on crypto activities in India. Some of this include new taxes and crashing volumes in the crypto industry.
In a meeting, the Co-founder and CEO of Indian Crypto Exchange Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath (BACC member), revealed the company's decision to dissolve the organization and focus on other non-crypto aspects of the country.
Vishwanath also mentioned that the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) called the meeting for BACC members to inform the decision and not to discuss it.
For over five years, BACC has been representing the crypto sector's interest in India.
India's BACC was formed to function as a self-regulatory and public advocate for the crypto industry. And significant exchanges in India like Coinswitch and CoinDCX are members. Likewise, Chainalysis and Binance are part of the body.
One thing is sure since the body is shutting down, its effect won't be immediate but later. If the country's exchange platforms do not seek a way to form a body that will serve as an advocate for them, there might be no one who will represent them in legal cases.
However, a source is confident this might not be the case because crypto assets and exchanges have enough policy chiefs and funding to handle those cases.