Media sources in India reported this week that the federal government had deemed bitcoin unlawful, inflicting a stir that appeared to be overblown.

Newspapers comparable to The Economic Times of India declared that, in keeping with a press release from Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal, use of the digital currency was “illegal” and uncovered customers to potential violations of anti-money laundering guidelines.

Initially greeted as a shift in coverage for India, which is residence to a variety of firms engaged on each bitcoin and blockchain-related tasks, the assertion has since come to be seen as merely a reiteration of an earlier place taken by officers within the nation.

Indeed, the assertion was nearly identical to 1 issued by the Reserve Bank of India in late 2013, which was largely a warning about value volatility and theft dangers.

“The absence of information of counterparties in such peer-to-peer anonymous/ pseudonymous systems could subject the users to unintentional breaches of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws,” the central financial institution stated on the time.

A published copy of the query posed to the Indian authorities bears out these similarities:

“The absence of counter parties in usage of [virtual currencies] including bitcoins, for illicit and illegal activities in anonymous/ pseudonymous systems could subject the users to unintentional breaches of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws.”

Regardless of its interpretation, the controversy sparked by the misconstrued assertion has led to requires the Indian authorities to obviously define its place on the legality of bitcoin.

A petition created on Change.org has attracted simply over 7,600 signatures. A second one, comparable in scope, has drawn greater than 1,110 supporters.

India map picture by way of Shutterstock