Bitcoin Forum

Dr. Raghuram Rajan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghuram_Rajan), governor of the Reserve Bank of India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Bank_of_India), has replied a few questions regarding bitcoin in an interview. I think, as a leader of country's central bank, his approach is +ve about bitcoin.

http://youtu.be/Mu97yGzO_ok?t=22m35s

If the YouTube video does not work for you, check the following link. Please fast forward to 22m:30s.

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-forecasts/indian-stock-markets-not-in-a-bubble-raghuram-rajan-to-ndtv-s-prannoy-roy/349983
 
Transcript Below...

interviewer:  "anybody here plan to go into eCommerce?"
student:  "My question is not exactly related to eCommerce, but to a more important topic of bitcoins."
governor:  "nothing is more important than eCommerce."
interviewer:  "oh no, bitcoin is fascinating, let's tackle that."
student:  "reading your book 'fault lines', it comes out as you are somebody who is not pro government intervention.  Being from the Chicago School of Thought, you propagate more free markets.  So I want to know, bitcoin has specifically very good advantages for a developing nation.  So, I want to know, what is your view as a regulator on free banking, and having more of equitable currencies floating in the market?"
governor:  "See, I think we're still watching the evolution of these kinds of currencies, one of the problems that we envisaged with bitcoin, one of course was security issues and you've seen that they're not as secure as people thought they were and there have been stolen bitcoins and so on. But the second issue was the fluctuation in value. For money, you require something called a stable store of value and something that fluctuates so much is less effective in use as money. There are some lessons to be learned from the technologies that bitcoin has employed, some of them are useful, some of them are worrisome. And uh, we have to see how we take on board such technologies. I have no doubt that down the line, we will be moving towards primarily a cashless society and we'll have some kind of currencies like this which will be at work. For us at the Reserve Bank, this may happen in 10 to 20 years from now, but we'll have to figure out how we make money because the way we generate most of our revenue is through forms of seigniorage. People are willing to hold currency free of interest and that's how we make money, but we'll figure that out. But I think these virtual currencies will certainly get much better, much safer and over time will be the form of transaction, and that's for sure."
interviewer: "and India will adopt them at some point?  we're not going to reject them out of hand?"
governor: "you know, in a sense, credit cards are already performing some of that role.  The amount of rupees that flow through your hands I presume are far less than used to before credit cards.  So this is going to go all around, you'll have near field devices which you just tap and go.  I mean, all that we want to permit.  
interviewer:  "you want to permit?"
governor:  "yes, we want to permit.  I mean we're not saying we're going to lose money therefore we won't do it, we'll find some other way of getting money, maybe the government will fund us eventually."

We are in the phase where bitcoin is seeping into the subconscious of many.

I like the fact that the head of RBI is speaking positively on Bitcoin.

I 100% agree with everything he says, the amount of fluctuation revolving around BTC is ridiculous, I would rather the price drop to $100 and be stable rather than $1000 and unstable.

The governor is open minded about bitcoin, not quite speaking positively about It. He is more interested in credit card payment with NFC.

I imagine this is Raghuram Rajan, he used to be an academic at the University of Chicago
A smart, progressive man by all accounts

Great! While he highlighted the weaknesses of bitcoin but in the end overall he gave a positive outlook on the future of bitcoin.

It's great and very unusual that man in such position, representing central bank, speaking positively on Bitcoin.
I would think that bankers will never accept bitcoin idea of decentralization, and no bank or central office behind, but I'm happy that I'm wrong at least with this great guy!

everyone talks of China having over a billion people

India has too

Just like every new thing in needs to earn trust. Remember when everyone was afraid to use a credit card online?

I thought India was super against Bitcoin. What happened?

India was not super against Bitcoin, just smart enough not to buy on a bubble and allow the Western geeks a chance to cash out, like the Chinese did.

This is great. If BTC can spread to more populous countries like India/China than it's sure to grow.

these are really good news but I don't know if it could be easy to implement in india

In case if someone does not know over here, Dr. Rajan is an electrical engineer from IIT. So, to understand bitcoin, he does not need to rely on what is being briefed to him or being reported in the media. He can understand it directly from the bitcoin whitepaper (http://www.coinlearn.org/whitepaper.php).

wow, I hope we can see a more expanded bitcoin acceptance in India soon

This is great news. A push from emerging economies like China and India can do wonders to Bitcoin adoption.
As we have seen from m-Pesa in Kenya, poor infrastructure and low banking penetration can result in people being open to new technologies.

In fact, we saved a lot of money because the RBI notice about bitcoin (http://rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=30247) came on time. We would have lost a lot of money by now, if they did not make us aware about the downside of the bubble. Now, as I hear +ve words from the governor, I feel more confident to invest in Bitcoin.

wow this is great :)

I hope more and more are using bitcoin, and bitcoin prices will increase and stable :)

Im not sure if anyone is against it as of now.! I'd say most of them r naive about it.!

Its already wide spread in China. Not sure about India. I think the major factor has been the volatility that steers people away.

Bankers will never support Bitcoin, he's just blushing....

RBI is an autonomous regulatory body in India. They are not involved into public banking.

central bank talks good about bitcoin? Something isn't right here.

This is really great news for the world's biggest democracy. I truly hope that indian states fully embrace crypto as the way forward

Rajan is a pragmatist and a realist. I am not surprised that he is not closed to the benefits of btc tech but this is hardly a stirring endorsement

lets be realistic, bitcoin will be a rollercoaster and some countries will ban it when BTC becomes "a danger" (already happend). if this ban is successfull in a long run .... I'm in doubt about it.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/31/indian-government-censorsht/

People clutching at straws hoping Indians will buy up and increase prices. I remember when the Chinese bubble popped there were loads in the Speculation area who were convinced that the gullible Indians will buy up Bitcoin like crazy and make them rich. Somebody in particluar named Bitchick Husband (or something like that that) was absolutely convinced and put up bullet points explaining how India can not not buy up Bitcoins ;D

The link u have mentioned is altogether different scenario. These sites were communicated to take down ISIS contents. They did not respond to the request. Then when they are blocked, they have started to respond. If internal security is compromised, action will be taken.... NORMAL.

I wouldn't say central bankers are naive. I guess governors of central banks across the world would have heard of Bitcoin and would know exactly how it works.

Even so, that's a start.

I hope but I am very skeptical.

Right. The lower the price goes, the larger percentage of swings we see. There was a time when 60% swings in a day were not uncommon. Now it's maybe as much as 10%

India and China will both play a big part in the long term. Such huge digital markets

Going lower is only better for those of us that trade on percents instead of dollars as posted above, too

It's great news since india population is high  ;D
Let's hope india & other countries won't ban bitcoin  :)

Too cheap on what metric?

There was nothing 'against' Bitcoin, the RBI had only issued a statement warning people of Bitcoin's risks and volatility.

Also, in their current statement I see no clear positive or negative response. They're acknowledging the future viability of digital currencies - but the whole world acknowledges it anyway. What would really mean as a 'positive acceptance' is a timeline to adopt to digital currency.

Well, I guess neutral is better than negative.

The fact that he is neutral shows that he has open mind.
Good for Bitcoin

They were never negative. They warned against the risks involved and they turned out to be correct. Anyone who ignored their warnings earlier lost a huge part of their investment.

Indian central bank is not like others. For starters, they actually take a rational view and are doing a great job in spite of constant government interference.

This topic led to this article => http://www.coindesk.com/indias-central-bank-one-day-use-digital-currency-chief-says/  ;)

Coindesk always create a hype by interpreting such comments in a deliberately far-stretched way. I have seen them making big news out of usual comments from government financial bodies of different countries.

Basically they want to draw as much attention of people as possible by creating BREAKING news out of thin air.
You have to be very careful and read the original statements of those bodies in order to get correct interpretation.

You're right. Coindesk isn't exactly the pinnacle of journalistic integrity. Sadly, I've  always believed they get most of their ideas from this forum and Reddit. If it's a slow news day on BCT and Reddit they just rehash old news. We should be looking to them for the news, instead we're giving it to them.

can you cut this kind of bull shit?
if all these were true i mean even half, btc is close to world currency.
but what is it now?  270$ a piece