India's Supreme Court is Calling on the Government to Control Bitcoin

The Hindu reported Tuesday that three justices on India’s Supreme Court sent out notices to the financial market regulator, the tax department, the central bank, and other government agencies requesting answers to an appeal on the bitcoin predicament.

The court is concerned, as it said in its original petition, that bitcoin could be used to control financial transactions across country borders with no supervision and no paper trail. This lack of supervision makes bitcoin a great tool for tax cheats and ransomware attackers.

The petition states:

"The lack of any concrete [control] mechanism pending the regulatory framework in said regard has left a lot of vacuum and which has resulted in total unaccountability and unregulated Bitcoin (crypto money) trading and transactions."

In India 2,500 users per day are added to bitcoin exchanges. There are up to 500,000 Indian citizens investing in bitcoin. As of 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, rupees and bitcoin exchange rates increased by more than 470,000.

The appeal from the Supreme Court claims bitcoin may cause issues in “the market value of other commodities.” The Supreme court is begging for the government to quickly produce regulations and rules.

The petition further states other countries are now regulating or banning bitcoin. China’s suppression of exchanges and Russia’s efforts to stop bitcoin websites are just two examples.

The attitude of “wait-and-see” on cryptocurrencies must be reformed. India is the world’s largest democracy and it needs to take command and prohibit or regulate bitcoins.

In April, the Indian government finally assigned a group to study cryptocurrencies and develop rules and regulations.