On Friday, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the government to make its stance clear over Bitcoin regulation and expansion strategy in the country.
A jurisdiction bench comprised of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant asked the additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, “You have to make your stand clear.”
The statement came out when the justice bench was hearing an appeal by Ajay Bhardwaj against the Union of India. Bhati appealed to the bench that the case is linked with 87,000 Bitcoins and the perpetrator is not cooperating with the investigation as well as doesn’t respond to multiple summonses.
The bench queried, “Is it illegal or not…” Bhati replied: “We will do that my lord.”
In Budget 2022, the Indian Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman imposed a 30% tax on all digital asset transactions including crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She has proposed to form section 115BBH to implement tax over digital assets.
Although, a few days later the Indian finance minister stated that the tax over crypto doesn’t define the legality of cryptocurrencies or NFTs in the country.
Amid the cloud of uncertainty over cryptos, Nirmala Sitharaman has earlier stated that she is not going to legalize cryptocurrency without consulting experts.
