Bitcoin issue to be taken up with RBI Governor: BJP MP

The issue of "illegal" bitcoin will be taken up with RBI Governor Urjit Patel, who has been asked to appear before Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance on April 20, a senior BJP lawmaker said on Friday.

A decision on bitcoin will be taken in a couple of months, BJP MP Kirit Somaiya told BTVi in an interview.

He said the report of the Standing Committee on Finance tabled in Parliament has dubbed the virtual currency "illegal".

"It has come on record now. The Standing Committee's latest report submitted in Parliament last week, quoting Finance Secretary, says bitcoin is illegal,"

Somaiya is a member of the panel led by Congress lawmaker M. Veerappa Moily.

Bitcoin is the world's first digital and decentralised currency as well as payment network.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier issued a warning to people against use of virutal currencies, including bitcoin, and said it had not given any licences to any company to trade in it.

"The issue is: Who is regulating these currencies? There is no clarity on this," the lawmaker said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party MP said it was not the time for regulatory bodies to think if bitcoin was being used as an alternative currency or a barter model developed in the name of innovation.

"In the name of technology, do we want to develop a modern barter system? It is the duty of Parliament, the RBI and the government to discuss and find out who is going to regulate it. Or is it a ponzi or private currency," he said

"Somebody has to regulate, if two people are having an internal ledger transaction," he added.

--IANS

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