Apex Court Lifts RBI Curbs On Trading In Cryptocurrencies

Allows banks to provide services for virtual currencies; Govt to decide on further course of action after studying order, says FinMin

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed banks to provide services for virtual currencies (VC), better known as ‘Cryptocurrency’ or popularly referred as ‘Bitcoins.’ This order is expected to enable trading of such currencies.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she is yet to read the order and that the government will decide on further course of action after studying the order.

Virtual Currencies are like codes, numbers or tokens. They are not a legal tender like the rupee, which is ‘fiat currency’ (issued under a government order by the monetary system, enjoying full sovereign support though not backed by any precious metal such as gold or silver).

According to the apex court, there is unanimity of opinion among all regulators and governments of various countries that though Virtual Currencies have not acquired the status of a legal tender, they nevertheless constitute digital representation of value and are capable of functioning as (i) a medium of exchange, (ii) a unit of account, and/or (iii) a store of value.