17 November 2017, India:
The Supreme Court of India has asked the Indian Government to answer the petition related to regulation of the use of Bitcoin.
According to an English news daily, The Hindu, the bench of three justices (Chief Justice Dipak Mishra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud) in Supreme Court have issued notices to the Finance, Law and Justice and Information Technology Ministries as well as to Reserve Bank of India (R.B.I.) and market regulator, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), demanding a response to a petition seeking clarity on the legality of the Bitcoin in India.
A petition calling for authorities to “regulate the flow of Bitcoin” has been filed in Supreme Court of India.
Right now, the use of Bitcoin for payment or financial instrument is not legal in India. Last week, RBI told not to use Bitcoins for payments and settlements. It clearly stated that any company has not been licensed or authorised by authority. RBI warned, Investors or adopters of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies would be doing so at their own risk.
But Bitcoin is not illegal in India, either. This creates a lot of confusion. A thing that is not legal as well as not illegal, And the central banks warns not to use it.
To end this ambiguity, a petition has been filed in Supreme Court. The petition states that “Domestic Bitcoin exchanges have been adding over 2,500 users a day and had reached 5 lakh downloads.”
Due to lack of regulation, India’s big four exchanges (Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and SearchTrade) established a self-regulatory body earlier this year. After that to study and develop frameworks for cryptocurrencies in India, Indian authorities established an inner-disciplinary ‘Virtual Currency Committe’.
Supreme Court of India has asked Government to check for Bitcoin transactions in relation to money laundering and terrorism funding.
We have to wait for the reply of Government on regulation of Bitcoin.
(Image – PYMTS.COM)