According to News18, when asked if the government is aware that Bitcoin trading has been quietly blossoming in India in recent years, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Centre does not collect any data on Bitcoin transactions. It also means that the central government has no plans to accept the leading cryptocurrency as legal tender in the country.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Bitcoin will not be accepted as currency in India
According to BrokerChooser, India is the country with the highest number of cryptocurrency holders in the world at 10.07 crore. With 2.74 crore crypto-owners US came at the second position, followed by Russia (1.74 crore) and Nigeria (1.30 crore).
This goes against the fact that India regularly introduces bills that seek to ban all private cryptocurrencies, with few exceptions. This is a bill included in the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, during the Winter session of the Parliament.
The bill also seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses. It also sought to create a facilitative framework for creating the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.
The Commission recommends that all cryptocurrencies be created by non-sovereign entities and, in this sense, purely private enterprises. There is no fundamental intrinsic value of these private cryptocurrencies as they lack all the currency properties. The committee suggested that all private cryptocurrencies be banned in India, except any cryptocurrency issued by the State.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a high-level meeting on cryptocurrencies with officials from the RBI, finance ministry, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). India’s next step to regulate cryptocurrencies will be proactive, progressive, and forward-looking as crypto is an evolving technology. The parliamentary standing committee on finance has met with crypto industry representatives, stakeholders, and experts.
As AZCoin News reported, the proposal of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) backed by the Reserve Bank of India could be included in an upcoming bill to regulate cryptocurrencies.
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