Indian Finance Minister Says Bitcoin is Not Legally Recognized for the Moment
Without a doubt, it seems that despite the growth of the cryptocurrency market in India, authorities don't have a very well-formed opinion about bitcoin. In fact, the Finance Minister of the country recently said that bitcoin is still not recognized as a currency and legal tender in India.
The Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, made these statements during an appearance in the Indian Parliament. Local media reported that he rejected the acceptance of bitcoin as a legal tender in India and made a reference to the fact that the country's central bank has a similar opinion about this subject.
Bitcon will not be officially recognized for now
An important thing to mention in this context is that the Indian authorities will not recognize bitcoin for the moment. Local media reported that the government is currently looking into ways to regulate the market.
However, Jaitley claimed that despite the plans to regulate the cryptocurrency market, the authorities will not consider cryptocurrencies to be legal for the moment.
“Recommendations are being worked at. The government’s position is clear, we don’t recognize this as legal currency as of now.”
The Finance Minister revealed that there are 11 cryptocurrency exchanges that are functioning in India at the moment.
These 13 cryptocurrencies exchanges were specifically identified by the government, but the minister did not provide other details on the reasons to mention them. What is known for the moment is that the country's Income Tax department has conducted some checks at various exchanges on concerns of tax evasion.
The fact that legislation for the cryptocurrency market will come at one point in India is something expected.
However, this may not come in the near future, as the government has claimed that it is waiting on a report from the interdisciplinary committee that is going to provide a proposal to regulate the cryptocurrency market.
The Supreme Court has previously called on the Indian authorities to come with such a regulation. The Finance Minister has meanwhile warned investors against purchasing cryptocurrencies.
