How India’s Crypto Crackdown Turned Into a Victory Press Conference

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray reconnects with an old friend from the early days of Bitcoin in India, referred to here as Sural, to revisit how a 2013 government crackdown turned into an industry defining moment. Sural recalls attending the Global Bitcoin Conference in Bangalore, meeting Sunny along with Unocoin founders Sathvik and Harish, and getting so absorbed in Bitcoin that he later got a permanent tattoo. When the Reserve Bank of India issued its first notification against Bitcoin weeks after the conference, Sural brought the crisis to his father, a senior lawyer, who chose to hold a press conference instead of a slow legal filing. Declaring Bitcoin not illegal in India, the statement made national headlines and eased pressure on exchanges almost overnight. Midway through the conversation, Sural's father joins the call and reflects on the years long path that eventually reached the Supreme Court, which upheld the same opinion. The conversation closes with thoughts on regulatory entrepreneurship, building a global industry association, and whether peer to peer platforms have a place alongside centralized exchanges.

An early Bitcoin believer and his lawyer father recall turning India's 2013 crypto crackdown into a legality victory.

The questions, and the answers.

What was your story before we met at the Global Bitcoin Conference in Bangalore?

I was researching SpaceX and stumbled onto Bitcoin forums, barely understanding anything except the general political posts. I found out about a pricey Bangalore conference, got it approved through my law firm, and flew in knowing very little about Bitcoin. That is where I met Sunny, Sathvik and Harish, right before India's RBI crackdown changed everything for the industry.

What was it like actually meeting people in this new, geeky Bitcoin space, given how confusing and expensive that first conference was?

Back then I was a total conference junkie, I would attend almost anything, even one on prenatal sounds for audiology students. Economic Times photographed me at the Bangalore event, and right after, the Reserve Bank of India issued its first notification against Bitcoin. Within a month they had seized accounts tied to Bitcoin companies and the whole industry was panicking.

How did the crisis unfold after the RBI notification, and how did your father's press conference come about?

My law firm had already concluded that owning Bitcoin was not illegal in India, so we briefed my dad. Instead of a six month legal filing, he chose to call a press conference, invited Bloomberg, CNBC and Indian outlets, and declared Bitcoin was not illegal. Every newspaper ran that headline, and the exchanges were back in business almost immediately.

So it was really you who brought your father into Bitcoin, correct?

Let me be frank, it was Sural who brought Bitcoin to me, I had never heard of it before, so thanks to him. As he says, my reputation preceded him, but really his interest came first. I always try to see the positive side of any new technology, so I made sure to give it a full and fair hearing before deciding to support him.

If you could send one message to exchange owners around the world about coming together as an industry, what would that look like?

I think you need a platform, perhaps an association, because governments listen more attentively to organized bodies than to individuals. We are happy to share our research and the self regulation framework we already built, but the industry needs to put a face forward, even four or five people to start, so we can help guide presentations to the right forums.

Do you have any thoughts on peer to peer platforms like LocalBitcoins as an alternative to centralized exchanges?

I have not gone too deep into that particular model, but fundamentally, if the transaction itself is not illegal, then holding crypto in an escrow arrangement rather than a bank account should be doable too. It really comes down to finding the right ground to operate on within the existing rules.