India is not looking to legalize Bitcoin as a currency any time soon, the country’s finance minister has confirmed. Speaking in the parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government does not collect Bitcoin transaction data, even as the country is reportedly working on Bitcoin taxation. India has a checkered relationship with cryptocurrencies, with the government sending mixed signals of late over the direction it would take with regulations.
India to soon pass a cryptocurrency regulations bill.
As reported earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting where top officials resolved to work on friendly regulations towards digital currency. However, this was followed by reports of plans to ban Bitcoin as a payment method but legalize it as an asset. The Finance Minister has laid to rest any hopes the Indian digital currency industry had about using digital assets for payment. The central government is all set to introduce a bill in the parliament in the upcoming session to regulate cryptocurrencies.
The Reserve Bank of India is said to be edging closer to launching its digital rupee.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is said to be edging closer to launching its digital rupee. According to the Economic Times report, Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, was recently informed of the plans. The RBI has also reportedly moved a proposal in parliament seeking to amend the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934 to give the digital rupee legal validity and enhance its scope. China did the same a year ago, amending its central banking law to now state, “Renminbi includes both a physical form and a digital form.” This gave legal recognition to the digital yuan. Yet another amendment banned all other plausible competitors to its central bank digital currency.
