Resilient Growth
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With the rising popularity of crypto-currencies all across the globe, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today has cleared the air on the future of Bitcoin in India.
Presenting the Union Budget 2018, the finance minister said that the crypto-currency is illegal and the government was not going to recognise it. FM Jaitley added that the government will do anything in a bid to eliminate the use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities.
“The government does not recognise cryptocurrency as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate the use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payments system,” Jaitley said.
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The crypto-currencies sky rocketed in the month of December last year. The craze for crypto-currencies has been immense in India along with other countries in the world. According to the reports, one in every 10 bitcoin transactions in the world happens in India.
This is not for the first time that government expressed its discomfort with the e-currency. Earlier in January also, FM Jaitley has announced that bitcoin is not a legal tender in India.
“There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi schemes which can result in sudden and prolonged crash exposing investors, especially retail consumers losing their hard-earned money. Consumers need to be alert and extremely cautious as to avoid getting trapped in such Ponzi schemes,” the Finance Ministry had said in a statement.
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