The cryptocurrency craze that was taking over the world may have just ended in India as the country’s finance minister Arun Jaitley stated in his Union Budget 2018 speech on Thursday that the government will undertake all measures to discontinue the use of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, as per media reports.
“The government does not recognise cryptocurrency as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate the use of these crypto assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payments system,” he said.
However, he added, “The government will explore use of blockchain technology proactively for ushering in digital economy.”
After peaking in December 2017 at almost $20,000, Bitcoin was at its worst single monthly rate in January within the last four years. Cryptocurrencies have been impacted by several negative reporting due to US regulators tightening controls on exchanges and social media giant Facebook banning related ads.
There has been a lot of confusion on the Indian government’s stance on cryptocurrencies over the last few months. While the Narendra Modi government and the country’s major financial institutions had made it apparent that they do not recognise digital currencies as legal tender, it had never been outlawed.
Now with Jaitley’s statement, the country will ensure a crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin for illegal purposes. However, it remains unclear if coin exchanges can continue to function.
Yesterday we saw that South Korea’s finance minister has said the government had no plans to shut down cryptocurrency trading in the country even though there has been a spike in crypto related cybercrimes, according to a Reuters report.
