The Indian government is to ban the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payments, finance minister Arun Jaitley has announced, kicking Bitcoin’s already-sliding value further down the slope.
At the same time, Jaitley indicated that the government has a different attitude toward the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and can be used for a variety of other purposes.
In budget speech by finance minister Arun Jaitley generated a tsunami of ‘the Bitcoin party is over in India’ headlines, adding to downward pressures on the cryptocurrency.
Safe to say, the truth of the matter is a lot more gray. Yes, Jaitley talked tough on crypto currencies. But no, there was no outright ban — not yet, anyway. The Indian government’s plans for crypto regulation remain unformulated (or at least unstated). It did set up a committee to look into crypto back in April. Which reported in Jaitley in August. But no regulations have been confirmed, leaving rumors to swirl.
Jaitley’s budget speech via The India Express--
"Distributed ledger system or the block chain technology allows organization of any chain of records or transactions without the need of intermediaries. The Government does not consider crypto-currencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system. The Government will explore use of block chain technology proactively for ushering in digital economy."
Is bitcoin now illegal in India?
Ajeet Khurana, head of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India (BACC), tried to clarify a statement made by the Indian Finance Minister that seemed to suggest India would “eliminate” cryptocurrencies.
Mr Khurana argued that cryptocurrencies will not be banned, but they won’t be part of the “payment system” in India.
In an interview with Your Story, he said: “The payments system includes a lot of things like the settlement mechanism, and the banking system. In recent times, digital wallets and other payment mechanisms have been added to the entire scenario.
I think never BAN Bitcoins..
