Cryptocurrency Bill: Bitcoin will not be accepted as currency in India, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

In a reply to the Lok Sabha. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government has no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender or currency in the country. Finance Minister also informed the House that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.

Whether the government has any proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency in the country, the Finance Minister said “No, sir”.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to buy goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties. 

India has the highest number of cryptocurrency holders in the world at 10.07 crore, according to broker discovery and comparison platform BrokerChooser.

Bitcoin was introduced in 2008 by an unidentified group of programmers as a cryptocurrency as well as an electronic payment system. It is reportedly the first decentralised digital currency where peer-to-peer transactions take place without any intermediary.

Meanwhile, the government plans to introduce the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. The Bill seeks to ban all but a few private cryptocurrencies to promote underlying technologies while allowing an official digital currency by RBI.

“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,” the bulletin in the Lok Sabha website mentioned. It also sought “to create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.”

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