Why Other Countries Accepting Bitcoin Excluding India: A Wake-Up Call

Is the radical idea of digital, cryptographic asset really a censorable concern for an Indian govt.? Why the overseers are unable to see the worth of the digital assets? Why it is still yet to see the final verdict of the govt. which is pending for many months.

There is no second thought that cryptocurrency would lead to a colossal geopolitical disruption. This can further lead to a shifting of power relation between governments and the citizens. The Indian government has almost made up its mind against bitcoin and seems like considering it as a revolutionary army which will be going to collapse the corrupted administrators. So, the clever move by the government is why not to curb it before any danger comes in the country which has the clear potential to overpower the control of the system. Probably the Indian government is deliberating the consequences of the going bitcoin into the mainstream.

In February 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the government does not see cryptocurrency as legal tender, giving a clear message on the warnings issued by RBI and by the finance ministry. He also said that the government will take measures to eliminate the use of such currencies in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system.

In fact, India’s complicated relationship with virtual currencies and firms dealing with them struggling due to the uneasy law and orders. The situation became worse after April 22, the Delhi High Court’s notice to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after a petition challenging the banking regulator’s April 06 order prohibiting lenders/banks from doing business with cryptocurrency exchanges.

Further, in November, the government had again initiated its negative stance by appointing a panel to draft the norms for virtual currencies which was headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary, department of economic affairs (DEA) and has submitted its report to the finance minister Arun Jaitley relaying “the law should enlist punitive measures that the government and its investigative agencies can take in case if it finds anyone or any entity trading or dealing/ holding it.”

On the contrary, the panel has also suggested the consideration of venturing India into cryptocurrency that a new sovereign backed virtual or cryptocurrency may be proposed considering global circumstances; probably at a later stage.

The above statements are so contradicting that a normal man is damn confused about its own country’s government decision over the controversial approach towards the highly revolutionary money and that is why people of the country are trusting foreign governments and their ways.

Worldwide the sector’s rapid rise has been pushed up as an important realization for innovation and a new era for the financial sector. Blockchain has been signified as a breakthrough innovation- the digital programming underpinning most cryptocurrencies, with its distributed-ledger proof and verification technique.

Jagadish Pandya, the co-founder, CREBACO, precisely shown his concerns and voiced out against the negligible attitude of the Indian government by saying that, “we understand the rapid build-up in price has caused concerns and several major digital assets inflated, regulators universally have grown worried about rampant speculation. Still, the new classification and coordination are currently being implemented by major international financial institutions to increase the speed and reliability of their own clearing systems. When will Indian government realize the worth of this upcoming change and lead the masses of its own country who are going outside the nation for the help and jurisdiction? The amazing talent is going outside the country and we are just doing nothing.”

In fact, if we look at the global front and the numbers except for India and China, world governments have been seen surprisingly welcoming cryptocurrencies. We can easily notice Bitcoin is improving its legal status in spite of so much volatility and acceptance in almost every progressive country. However, the legal status of bitcoin and other related cryptocurrencies varies substantially and classified differently from country to country. The new digital money has got the permission to use and trade recently in these countries:

Philippines:

Earlier this year the central bank of the Philippines or The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has published its update on Virtual Currency (VC) confined in one illustration.

Source Image: BSP Facebook page