Research Proposal and Literature Review Crypto Currency Regulation Issues in India

Research Proposal and Literature Review Crypto Currency Regulation Issues in India Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Background to the study 2 3. The literature review 3 4. Methodology and analysis 5 5. Conclusion 5 6. References 7 Appendix 1 Data Sources 7 Introduction This research proposal examines cryptocurrency regulation issues in India. For the past few years, cryptocurrency has gained popularity worldwide, and in India, it has turned out to be a hot topic of discussion. The is an ongoing debate and heated argument against regulating cryptocurrency in India. Cryptocurrency proponents argue that regulation would impede innovation and make it challenging for new players to enter the market. Regulating cryptocurrency in India could also make it hard for people to access new investments. Cryptocurrency is not banned in India and does not pose any potential threat. The scarcity of cryptocurrency exchanges from accessing vital financial institutions such as banks as well as other payment networks would be inconsistent (Yadav, 2021). In the recent legislation, the Finance Ministry of India issued a gazette notice requiring the cryptocurrency exchanges and mediators dealing with other forms of digital currencies to carry out know your customer (KYC) on their clients and users. Therefore, this project aims to address the critical question around issues concerning cryptocurrency regulation in India. The project would examine the fundamental concepts, such as whether cryptocurrency should be regulated in India and whether benefits would be obtained due to such regulations. The anticipated answer to this main research question is expected to reveal that regulating cryptocurrency would stifle innovation and make it challenging for the new player to invest in the Indian market. Background to the study The first circular of cryptocurrency was introduced by the Reserved Bank of India in 2013. Even before the Reserve Bank of India issued the cryptocurrency, many cryptocurrency exchanges were happening in India, such as Zebpay and Unocoin (Yadav, 2021). Since its issuance in cryptocurrency has constantly been subjected to scrutiny by those in the financial market. The Reserve Bank of India has continuously warned cryptocurrency users, holders, and traders of this virtual currency, including Bitcoin, concerning its potential financial, functional, lawful, customer safety, and security-associated threats. After the demonetization, as the crypto market was developing speedily in India, caution was issued, pointing out that digital currency is not legal tender in India. The Reserve Bank of India has also given a notice to financial institutions such as banks and other payment channels restraining them from dealing with digital currency. The graph depicts investment in blockchain and crypto currency startups as significantly showing a rapid growth in India. Key players in the financial market have worked with the Reserved Bank of India to promote a positive campaign about using digital currencies such as crypto. In 2020, there was an upsurge in cryptocurrency investment in India, as shown in the graph above, because the Supreme Court of India struck down the ban on cryptocurrency banking, maintaining that the caution issued by the Reserve Bank of India was unconstitutional. In a pact with the Supreme Court Ruling, the Indian government introduced a Bill to establish a national digital currency and protect private virtual currencies such as crypto, meaning that cryptocurrency should not be banned but regulated. In the yearly budget, the Ministry of Finance highlighted that government would significantly benefit from taxing cryptocurrency investment, increasing the tax fund by approximately thirty percent. Despite that being received positively by the government and the financial institutions, the Indian government has not given the measure around the legal status of cryptocurrency. The literature review Research questions The broad research questions for this study include the following; What are the regulation issues around cryptocurrency in India? How does taxing cryptocurrency investments benefits the Indian government? Why has the Indian government not given the measure legal status for cryptocurrency? Theoretical frameworks The study (Yadav, 2021) defined cryptocurrency as the digital depiction of worth that can be stored and exchanged digitally. Many countries have continuously implemented measures to regulate the use of digital currency, such as crypto, or ban it for good. The Indian government has not entirely banned cryptocurrency, nonetheless, it has not given the measure of its legal status. The issues that affect cryptocurrency investment in India can be primarily attributed to the government not defining the legal standards regulating cryptocurrency operations in Indian Jurisdictions. Virtual currencies were invented with the motive of enhancing paperless transactions by allowing the transfer of funds digitally (Yousuf, Hasan, and Khan 2020). The Indian government has permitted cryptocurrency integration into its mainstream financial system, although it is not considered a legal tender, thus raising many questions about the operationality of this virtual currency in the country. The step taken by India to enforce money laundering regulations on cryptocurrencies demonstrates that governments across the globe recognize the significance of having specific provisions in place to avert criminal actions, including money laundering as well as terrorist financing. Data used The data for this research comprised information gathered, observed from the trends, and developed to validate the study on cryptocurrency regulation issues in India. Even though the collection of data used for this research is mainly digital, the study data also integrates non-digital formats, including notebooks as well as diaries that report on cryptocurrency regulation in India. The data used in this research proposal is mainly from secondary sources, including publications from the Indian government, reliable websites, journal articles, and books, and This research project is for educational purposes. Therefore, using secondary data sources is crucial for devoting more time in the research work and limiting the potential loss of time that would be taken when carrying out the primary research studies. Analytical Methods Analytical methods for this study comprised the techniques for this qualitative study to determine the cryptocurrency regulation issues in India. For this study, analytical techniques would be significant for drawing certain conclusions concerning cryptocurrency regulation in India. The approach to the selected analytical methods would depend on this being carried out. Minus the use of analytics techniques, it would be challenging to establish why the Indian government has not designed the measures defining the legal status of cryptocurrency. Therefore, analytics methods would be effective for determining specific conclusions about the research topic. For this study, exploratory and descriptive data analysis methods will be used in order to generate study results and arrive at a particular conclusion on cryptocurrency regulation issues in India. Results The results of this research proposal are expected to point out that the government's absence of defined measures to dictate the legal status of cryptocurrency is causing regulation issues in the recent proposal Indian planned for placing a 30% tax which is considered the highest taxation slab in the country on income generated from the cryptocurrency investment (Shukla, Misra, and Chaturvedi 2022). Many of the concerned stakeholders in the digital currency market, such as significant financial institutions and crypto investors, argued that the move to impose such a high tax on cryptocurrency investment would damage the virtual currency market and potentially, the Reserve Bank of India would capitalize on the opportunity to create its virtual currency or crypto. With a relatively lower tax slab, India is posed to significant benefit from taxing cryptocurrency investments, and lower tax rates would attract more investors. The future of crypto and other digital currencies appears blurry in India as the government increasingly tightens its regulations on such currencies without providing the measures to define their legalities (Narayanan, 2020). The increased incidences of money laundering and criminal activities, including terrorist financing, have forced the ideal government to be reluctant to give the measure for legal status for cryptocurrency. Methodology and analysis The data for this research would be collected from secondary data sources such as Indian government publications, the Publications from the Indian government, websites, journal articles about cryptocurrency regulation issues in Indian and internet notes. After the data is collected from secondary sources, it will be analyzed using exploratory data analysis techniques. The analysis steps will include: step1: data collection, this will involve taking data from the outlined sources that explains more about how cryptocurrencies perform in India. Step 2: finding all variables related to our research topic and understanding those variables, these variables may include price of the cryptocurrency, market capitalization, demand and supply, profitability etc. step 3: cleaning the data set. The research should be free from irrelevant information that will make our research outcome to be less valid and less reliable. Step 4: identifying correlated variables. This will help us understand more the relationship between the different variables. And how regulations consider these factors. For example, correlated variables will help us know how price of the cryptocurrency relate or influence the demand and supply of that crypto. And how this relation will affect regulations in making their laws regarding cryptocurrency in India. Step 5: choosing the right statistical method. For our research, SPSS is the best method that will be used. This is the best method because it is more accurate and reliable especially when analyzing a huge data. It will help us identify patterns, trends and correlation of the data used. Step 6: visualizing and analyzing results. Data from qualitative research should also be included in the study. To understand and recognize the numerous reasons and variables influencing the rules of cryptocurrency in India, data should be qualitatively studied. This could include the government's desire to safeguard the financial system of India and the interests of investors and customers. Using experimental methods for this analysis would allow the researcher to discover new information about cryptocurrency regulation in Indian and define the future of virtual currency in India. Also, the data collected would be analyzed using descriptive data analysis techniques such as frequency tables, central tendency and dispersion. The technique would allow the critical elements of gathering data quantitatively. The illustrative approach requires minimal effort and generates significantly informative results. The qualitative data collected from the data sources would be analyzed by connecting and organizing the information, coding the data, and analyzing them based on their relevancy to the topic. The quantitative data from the identified data sources would be analyzed using SPSS because it is flexible, give comprehensive results, and can be used with any data set. The process of testing the hypothesis for this research would include the procedure for investigating ideas around cryptocurrency regulation issues in India. The actions that would be undertaken when testing the hypothesis would consist of defining the hypothesis and establishing the claim, then finding the crucial value as well as the test value. The critical and test values would then be compared to determine whether the hypothesis should be accepted or rejected as a null hypothesis. The necessary data for this research would comprise the most recent trends in cryptocurrency investment in India. The characteristics of the data used in this study would be descriptive and predictable frequency distribution. Conclusion In summary, India currently faces numerous cryptocurrency regulation issues as the government is reluctant to give the measures that define its legality and use in the country. Therefore, this project plays a significant role in providing comprehensive and detailed information about the future of cryptocurrency in India and why the government should regulate it rather than ban it altogether. The research contributed significantly to understanding how to access the virtual currency taking over the Indian financial market. The knowledge gathered from this report is essential for helping build a more understanding of crypto currency woks and its determination to create a more equitable and fairer world by supporting equal access to income and eliminating barriers to money transfers. As the blockchain is a growing area of employment, a project aiming to understand cryptocurrency regulation is increasingly becoming significant, with the increasing number of investors desiring to use cryptocurrency for their transactions. References Narayanan, H., 2020. Is future a rule of digital currency. International Journal of Research-GRANTHAALAYAH, 8(8), pp.96-106. Shukla, V., Misra, M.K. and Chaturvedi, A., 2022. Journey of cryptocurrency in India in view of Financial Budget 2022-23. arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.12606. Yousuf Javed, M., Hasan, M. and Khan, R., 2020. Future of bitcoin in India: Issues and challenges. Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, 23(2), pp.207-214. Yadav, A. (2021). Cryptocurrency in India: to Ban or not to Ban. Aman Kumar Yadav, 'Cryptocurrency in India: To ban or not to ban' (The RMLNLU Law Review Blog, 2 March 2021), available at: https://rmlnlulawreview. com/2021/03/02/cryptocurrency-in-india-to-ban-or-not-to-ban.

Appendix 1 Data Sources

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Dissertation Guidelines Table of Contents 1. Objective of the Dissertation 2 2. Layout 2 3. Format 5 4. Originality and Plagiarism 5 5. References 6 6. Ethics Form 7 7. Submission Instruction 7 8. Support 7 9. Assessment 9 Appendix Grade Criteria 10 There is no set way to write a dissertation. The purpose of these guidelines is to highlight the necessary items and possibly give a few tips and ideas. Objective of the Dissertation The objectives of the dissertation are to develop the ability to investigate specific issues relevant to your degree and to communicate findings in an appropriate manner. You should be worrying more about properness of the investigation and communication rather than trying to show something new. Layout The first page (not necessarily the cover) of the final report should follow this pattern: PORTSMOUTH BUSINESS SCHOOL **TITLE OF DEGREE** Title: Student Name: Student Number: Supervisor: Year of submission: Word Count: Signed statement of originality: “This project is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc. I hereby declare that this dissertation is substantially my own work. I do/do not (please delete as appropriate) consent to my dissertation in this attributed format (not anonymous), subject to final approval by the Board of Examiners, being made available electronically in the Library Dissertation Repository and/or Department/School/Subject Group digital repositories. Dissertations will normally be kept for a maximum of ten years;  – I understand that if I consent, this dissertation will be accessible only to staff and students for reference only;  – This permission may be revoked at any time by e-mailing [email protected] Signed………………………………………….” Permission for inter-library loan: I give permission that this report may be photocopied and made available for inter-library loan for the purpose of research. Signed …………………………………………………..” [Note: These statements must be signed and dated. Omit the second if your project is confidential.] You should include an abstract (summary) of the project, inclusive of results and conclusions. This should be no more than 500 words (not counted for the total 8,000) and should fit on a single sheet. The dissertation title, your name, and the date should appear at the top of the abstract. As for the actual dissertation, the following are only guidelines. Every dissertation is different and the appropriate sections and structure can very depending on the subject. This is why you should agree on a reasonable structure with your supervisor. As an example, a dissertation in theoretical economics or theoretical finance will not have ‘data’ and ‘methodology’ sections but a ‘model’ and ‘equilibrium characterization’ sections. The following guidelines are written with an empirical dissertation in mind, however this does not dispense you from discussing the structure with your supervisor. The dissertation should start with an introduction clearly stating the research question and highlighting the aims and background of the study. The background should also provide a motivation for the research. Besides giving theoretical justification for your research, remember to include figures that give a sense of magnitude for the problem at hand. For instance, if you are looking into SME in some particular country, give their contribution to GDP; if you are looking at IPOs, provide some market caps figures. Nothing gives a sense of relevance for a topic like its magnitude. If you like, you can devote a paragraph outlining and motivating the structure of the dissertation. After the introduction, the literature review usually follows. From a practical point of view, the literature review should be the first thing you work on, leaving the introduction, conclusion and abstract last. You can use the literature review you have submitted in May as a starting point, expanding it as you read more, and better understand the topic. Remember that the review should also critically evaluate the previous literature and put it in direct relationship with your own project, from a theoretical, conceptual and methodological point of view. After completing the literature review you should have a clear idea of whether the dissertation is feasible, whether you have the technical competence required and you will be likely to access all the relevant information (e.g. data). You can then move on to the methodology, which should be discussed in details and justified in light of the critical evaluation of the methodological aspects discussed in the literature review. Depending on the nature of your dissertation, the methodology will consist either in an econometric model followed by the source of your data, or in a mathematical model. The methodology (and eventual data) section should be detailed enough to enable another trained economist to reproduce your results. The data in your dissertation should be collected by yourself. A very common mistake students make is to embark is a philosophical discussion pondering the differences between ‘method’ and ‘methodology’, inductive and deductive method, primary and secondary data, etc. This is all irrelevant and off topic. You need to explain what you are doing in the specific and why, where the answer to the last question should be in relation to your research question and not to the pros and cons to the method in general (e.g. “I will use secondary data because collection is less time consuming”). The Analysis of the results should be supported by the appropriate evidence and arguments. Depending on the nature of your dissertation, this will include the output of your econometric analysis or a list of theorems and propositions. Whatever the nature of the results, they should be thoroughly interpreted and discussed by linking them to the results already available in the literature. In light of the analysis presented, you should be able to give an answer to your research question. The methodology and analysis sections should constitute the main body of your dissertation. Conclusion If in the introduction you might have hinted to possible answers to your research question, this is the place to remind your readers of the starting point of the investigation and to give a more educated answer to the question. Remember that, unless you are giving a formal proof to an ‘if and only if’ statement where you can conclusively say that your assumptions are equivalent to your results, you should not formulate your results as absolute and categorical statements. For an empirical study, for instance, your conclusions should sound more like: “in light of the analysis carried out, the data seems to suggest that…”. It is likely that your result will contradict some of the results in the literature: unless you can spot methodological mistakes in someone else’s work, nobody is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and your job in the conclusion is to relate your results to those in the literature and to try to explain the differences in the results by analyzing the differences in assumptions, methodology and data sets. Format The absolute maximum length is 8,000 words. This excludes references, footnotes, and any appendices. Use explanatory footnotes within reason but not for citation. There is no plus 10% allowance. Please, do include a word count in the first page of the document. The report must use double line spacing or 1.5-line spacing. The abstract will probably need to use single line spacing to fit it onto a single page. Leave margins of at least 3 cm, preferably using Times New Roman typeface size 12 pt. Any system of numbering chapters, sections, pages, figures, tables and appendices may be used, provided it is clear and consistent. Diagrams and Tables should be numbered, have an appropriate descriptive title, be labeled correctly, and any data sources cited according to Harvard APA. Charts and tables in the text should always be referred to by number. In case you use Microsoft Word, equations should be produced using your word processor’s equation editor and be numbered is case you plan to refer to them in the text: references to equations in the text should cite these numbers. Particular care should be taken with subscripts and superscripts. Define variables and parameters clearly in the text on their first appearance. Originality and Plagiarism The best (and only) way to avoid plagiarism is to use proper referencing whenever you incorporate another person’s ideas into your project. Failure to do so is known as plagiarism and is treated extremely seriously by University regulations. It may result in you being immediately excluded (expelled) from the course. You are entitled to quote from other’s work but when you do so we ask you to ensure that you present the relevant passage in italics and within “quotation marks”. References should follow one of the standard styles: we recommend you use the Harvard system (there are booklets available on this from the library). Another issue is how to interpret the Turnitin similarity % score. Just because it appears as unoriginal does not mean it is plagiarized; it just means that the material matches something in the Turnitin databases. If you use appropriate referencing you will not incur in plagiarism. However, your dissertation should be original and only submissions with a 24% or below originality score will be accepted. To check whether you fall within the limits, run a similarity check without References. Should you be very close to 24% or even exceed it by a small margin, exercise discretion and ask the advice of your supervisor: an originality report may have a similarity index of 24% with the similarity coming from hundreds of different sources, each making up less than 1% of the student’s work, other originality reports with an index of 24% may have the similarity coming from just one or two web pages or published sources, potentially a much more serious matter. Please refrain from making your dissertation a patchwork of quotations or from using a thesaurus to change into synonyms a few words in a sentence you took from somewhere else: the result is usually dreadful and hard to comprehend. If you have troubles writing in English, please seek the support of the Study Support Tutors (see section 7 below). References Begin bibliographic references on a separate page. The reference section must list all items cited in the text in Harvard APA format, including the sources of data used in tables or charts. Details of Harvard APA can be found at: http://www.referencing.port.ac.uk The Study Support Tutors at Richmond 1.07 (see paragraph 7 below) can help you make sure that your referencing is correct. Ethics Form This is on Moodle in the ‘Dissertation’ box. You have to fill out an Ethics Forms whether you are going to collect primary data or not. Instructions on how to fill it out are on Moodle too. The form needs to be signed by your supervisor. Afterwards, scan it and collate it to the main dissertation as described in the paragraph below. Submission Instruction The deadline for submitting the dissertation is TBA. Submission is in electronic form and only one file will be accepted. So, please collate the font page, the abstract and a scanned signed copy of the Ethics Form (in this order) before the main body of your dissertation. In due course, you will find on Moodle a dropbox for your submission. Please make sure to submit your file to BOTH parts, one for the first marker and one for the second marker. A single submission will not be accepted as complete. This instruction will be clearly highlighted in the submission box. No hard copy needs to be submitted to the Post-Graduate Centre; only electronic submission via Moodle will be accepted as valid.  If you need a hard copy of your dissertation to be validated by the Post-Graduate Office for visa or funding purposes, please feel free to have one printed and bound, and to take it to the Post-Graduate Centre for this purpose. However, this does not constitute a valid submission, it will not be marked and it will not give you credits on your degree. If you need such validation, please refer to the Post-Graduate for instruction and expected waiting times. Support The first line of support you have is your supervisor. It is your responsibility to make contact with your supervisor, to arrange a regular series of meetings and to make sure you are making satisfactory progress. It is not the supervisor’s role to check you are carrying out the work to the agreed timetable. You should email your supervisor and keep a record of what you have discussed. It is not a good idea to delay this first meeting with your supervisor because, without advice, you might waste time on unsuitable objectives, irrelevant readings or wrong methodology. Your supervisor may also offer comments and feedback on your work at appropriate points during the dissertation (e.g. looking at draft chapters). You should note, however, that a supervisor’s role is not to provide a detailed check of your work, nor is it to correct your use of English or your spelling. The supervisor’s role is to provide general guidance and advice on the content and process of your dissertation. The gentlemen agreement is that your supervisor will read one full draft copy of your dissertation. This should be your best draft and you should try to give it to your supervisor four weeks before submission, to allow for comments, feedback and any revisions/improvements. Your second line of support is the Business School Study Support Tutors (SST). The Business School has a dedicated team of Tutors who provide independent guidance and support for students looking to improve their techniques for completing a dissertation, including advice for students using English as a second language. You will find additional details of their services at http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/faculties/portsmouthbusinessschool/studysupport/. To book an appointment with a Study Support Tutors throughout the summer contact: email to: