- The Supreme Court of India has been heavily criticized for not having a clear regulatory framework for digital currencies.
- The Court claimed that Bitcoin trading in India is similar to a more sophisticated version of the Hawala system
The Supreme Court of India has contrasted Bitcoin trading in India to a more lustrous form of Hawala on May 5. Talking about Hawala, it is an illegal money transfer system.The Court further condemned the Centre for not having clear rules for digital currency till now.
As per the reports from PTI, Shailesh Babulal Bhatt was arrested by police for reportedly doing illegal trading. While hearing for his bail plea, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made the above-mentioned remarks.
The judges further asserted that in a similar case that happened two years ago, the court ordered the government to explain the policy on virtual currencies in detail. But the government hasn’t worked on it yet.
Bitcoin Trading- A Sophisticated Version of the Hawala System
Mukul Rohatgi, a senior lawyer of Supreme Court argued that Bitcoin trading isn’t illegal in the country, mainly after the court abolished a previous RBI circular on the same matter. Rohatgi represented Bhatt and claimed that his client was wrongly arrested.
Replying to the claims, Justice Surya Kant asserted that to his understanding, some of the BTC are genuine while others are fake. Although personally, he does not have much knowledge about Bitcoin.
He also claimed that Bitcoin trading in India is similar to a more sophisticated version of the Hawala system, primarily because no clear set of regulations is in place.
However, the court has also been continuously asking the government to provide a clear set of regulations to avoid such issues.
On the matter, Rohtagi mentioned that Bitcoin holds a significant value, highlighting that in some foreign countries, one can not even walk into a showroom and buy a car using a single Bitcoin. He has also admitted that he doesn’t have much knowledge of trading. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $94,408 with a volume of about $22.97 billion.
