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November 10, 2017, 07:08:18 PM |
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Speaking to Inc42, Sathvik Vishwanath, Founder, and MD of Unocoin said, “Though this is not an official statement of RBI, what we can infer from the statement is that as of now, they are barring Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies as a mode of transaction for products and services. However, the number of transactions happening in terms of Bitcoins for the payment purposes is very limited. India is far behind when it comes to making payments in Bitcoins.”
On the government stance, Sathvik said that the interdisciplinary committee has submitted the report and the ball is in the government’s court now.
So, while the recent comment is not against people buying Bitcoins as an asset, is it a positive move? Definitely not, as time and again, government’s reservations against Bitcoins have been stated. Sudarshan Sen, Executive Director, RBI had stated earlier this year that the RBI and the government were not comfortable with the use of Bitcoins. He also revealed that the RBI was considering to float its own fiat cryptocurrency.
Looking back at the series of statements made since the RBI’s press release dated December 24, 2013, the financial authorities are still clueless about the Bitcoin potential and are unsure about making any statement regarding legalizing cryptocurrency. While the government appears to be very cautious regarding the security issues like ransomware, CryptoShuffler, ICOs, illegal transactions, a delayed formal policy on cryptocurrency will only harness the illegal activities, discouraging people and startups who want to adopt Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies legally.
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