Selling all my crypto because of an authoritarian government

I’m from a third-world country called India. The right-wing fascist government here is planning to ban all cryptocurrencies. (They are so tone-deaf they called Bitcoin a “private cryptocurrency”).

Of course, you can never ban Bitcoin due to its decentralized nature and you might be thinking why I am selling my crypto when I could just as easily use a VPN. Well, the answer is that you don’t live under this government. In 2019, the country was undergoing civil unrest with riots in the capital in the CAA protest against a bill that discriminated based on religion. They silence journalists, kill protestors, and control not only just the media but also the judiciary. It’s. fucked. up.

Currently, many farmers of the country are protesting against the new farm laws which have been deemed anti-farmers and pro-corporate. The government was apathetic to the protest initially and then they were cruel and brutal.

When Greta Thunberg and Rihana tweeted about the issue, the government lost its mind and used the Ministry of External Affairs to issue a statement… against a pop star and a teenager. The protestors are also dealt with harshly and Delhi has been turned into a fortress keeping them out; more than a hundred farmers have died but the government remains apathetic.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India prohibited all banks in India from accepting cryptocurrency transactions in 2018. However, the industry went to the Supreme Court and the order was deemed unconstitutional in March last year. The crypto industry rose in India again and just as more people were buying in, the government comes out with a bill that fines a person 3x to 10x their gains on crypto or a jail term up to 10 years, or both.

The worst part is that the bill states that it’s up to the government to decide how people should dispose of their crypto after it’s banned. And you know what, it’s not beyond this government to take all the crypto for themselves and claim they “destroyed it”. All governments have a history of corruption in India. My exchange is linked to my bank accounts and my central government tax ID, and they can easily track me.

That’s why I’m selling everything I have, for now, just to wait it out and see what happens with the bill here. I don’t want to sell but I think it’s better if I cash out instead of letting the government decide what I should do with my coins or face jail time.

I know India is probably not in your circle of concern right now but Bitcoin was about decentralization, about resisting government censorship and it seems the fanatical government is hellbent on making sure nobody can hold crypto by threatening harsh punishments and penalties. However, this is also good for crypto because the government is scared of it due to its growing power, just like it’s scared of Rihana and Greta Thunberg.

I hope the bill never passes but most likely it will and bring an end to the crypto industry here again.

Source: https://medium.com/share-everything/selling-all-my-crypto-because-of-an-authoritarian-government-ca73b7e4414d?source=rss——-8—————–cryptocurrency