IAMAI says forced to dissolve BACC owing to regulatory uncertainty in crypto industry

Representative image.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement on July 14 that it is dissolving the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) owing to the uncertain regulatory environment for the crypto industry.

"The association was forced to take the decision in light of the fact that a resolution of the regulatory environment for the industry is still very uncertain, and that the association would like to utilise its limited resources for other emerging digital sectors, which make a more immediate and direct contribution to digital India, notably, deepening financial inclusion and promoting Central Bank issued Digital Currency (CBDC)," the association said.

Moneycontrol had reported on July 14 citing sources that the association decided to dissolve BACC following growing disagreements between the association and crypto founders, with IAMAI particularly being unhappy with exchanges not adhering to internally decided codes of conduct.

"The BACC group has been highly indisciplined in terms of following through the demands and requirements of the government as decided during the meetings with government bodies," a source had said on the condition of anonymity.

BACC was the only council representing crypto exchanges in India. Ashish Singhal, founder and CEO of CoinSwitch and Sumit Gupta, founder and CEO of CoinDCX, the two largest exchanges in the country, served as co-chairs of the council. Besides CoinSwitch and CoinDCX, other members of BACC included players like ZebPay, WazirX, Unocoin, Vauld etc.

In the statement, IAMAI also said that it will continue to support activities of the BACC till the end of the month to ensure smooth and proper transition of the sector as well as closure of the ongoing projects.

BACC co-chairs Singhal and Gupta said, "Our stated belief as the industry has always been to have a sustainable dialogue with regulators and stakeholders and address concerns for progressive regulations. As an industry, we will continue to positively engage with all stakeholders and continue to build emerging tech including Web 3.0."

This decision comes at a time when crypto trading is at an all-time low with volumes dropping over 80 percent since March this year. After a blockbuster year, with 30 percent tax and 1 percent TDS, exchanges are grappling with declining volumes as well as the market crash.

Established in 2004, IAMAI is a not-for-profit industry body representing the digital services industry with over 400 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, which include companies in diverse sectors of the digital ecosystem as well as start-ups.

IAMAI represents varied sectors such as digital advertising, digital entertainment, TravelTech, online gaming, digital payments, Fintech, digital commerce, Edtech, Healthtech, Agritech, blockchain, Big data, ML, AI & IoT, AR/ VR, LogisticsTech and etc.