The Supreme Court of India has questioned why the country’s central government cannot formulate a policy of “clear cut” on cryptographic regulation, the Economic Times reported Monday.
Judge Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said that there is “under parallel market” for cryptocurrency that can affect the economy.
“Why don’t you go out with a clear cut policy about cryptocurrency regulation?” They posed. “When regulating cryptocurrency, you can monitor the trade.”
Judge Kant added that Bitcoin’s trade (BTC) is “an illicit trade more or less as a Hawala business”, referring to a term used for informal money transfer from one place to another without the real movement of physical money. Hawala transactions are illegal in India.
The judges presented their question to the additional attorney Aisehwarya Bhati, who requested to look for instructions on the matter. They were talking while listening to a bail request presented by Shailesh Babulal Bhatt, a Gujarat resident accused of fraud related to cryptography.
Bhati had affirmed that Bhatt was one of BTC’s greatest commercial aggregators in Gujarat, victimizing others with promises of high yields.
However, the court said he could not determine if Bhatt was a victimizer or a victim, lamenting the government’s inability to create a clear regime that regulates cryptocurrency.
The government of India had plans to launch a discussion document that describes its cryptographic policy position for September last year, although this has not yet materialized.
A senior official said in February that the delay was due to the plans to review the effect of more friendly policies with the cryptographic of the United States under President Trump.
