A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced during the Union Budget that the central government would charge 30 percent tax on digital currency, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said that cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NFT would never become legal tender, reported ANI.
He added that only the digital rupee issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would become legal tender.
"Digital rupee issued by the RBI will be a legal tender. Money will be of RBI but will be digital. Rest all aren't legal tender, will not, will never become legal tender [sic]."TV Somanathan, Finance Secretary, told ANI
He added that non-digital assets could be purchased with the digital rupee via wallets or the UPI payment method. However, he said that Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NFTs would never be legal tender in India.
He also clarified that things that were not legal in the country did not necessarily make them illegal, and that the value of crypto assets could only be determined between two people.
However, that value will not have authorisation from the government, he said.
"Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NFT will never become legal tender. Crypto assets are assets, whose value will be determined between two people. You can buy gold, diamond, crypto, but that will not have the value authorization by government."TV Somanathan, Finance Secretary, told ANI
'Govt Not Responsible for Loss': Finance Secretary
He said that there was no guarantee of successful investment in private cryptocurrency and the government would not take any responsibility for losses incurred.
He said, "People investing in private crypto should understand that it does not have the authorisation of govt. There is no guarantee whether your investment will be successful or not, one may suffer losses and govt is not responsible for this [sic]."
(With inputs from ANI.)
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