Log in or register
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 06 JULY 2017

Future Of Virtual Currencies In India

LexCounsel
LexCounsel
Contributor
LexCounsel

LexCounsel

LexCounsel is a New Delhi-based full service law firm with an office in Bhubaneswar and associate...

View firm profile
Explore more from LexCounsel

The legal status of virtual currencies ("VCs") such as Bitcoins continues to be debated as it remains unrecognized in India.

IndiaTechnology
Seema Jhingan
Seema Jhingan
Neha Yadav
Neha Yadav
Saniya Kothari
Saniya Kothari
Author LinkedIn connections

The legal status of virtual currencies ("VCs") such as Bitcoins continues to be debated as it remains unrecognized in India.

The Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") in the past had issued several advisories clarifying that creation, trading or usage of VCs, as a medium for payment are not authorized by any central bank or monetary authority in India and entails various risks, but RBI stopped short of declaring VCs as illegal. However, pursuant to issuance of these advisories, the Enforcement Directorate did reportedly conduct raids against operators of trading platforms of VCs in India, creating an atmosphere of regulatory uncertainty for the VC industry. In absence of any clear direction or regulation by the Government, the matter of VCs seems to have remained in an uncertain limbo riddled with regulatory pitfalls.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

Related Articles

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

See more popular content from

Article

Use Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Courts

On June 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of India’s AI Committee released preliminary draft of the Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Courts, 2026 (“The Draft”). This marks a shift from scattered experiments with AI tools for translation, transcription, research and case management. With over 93,000 pending matters as of March 2026, the guidelines aim to ease processes for officials and citizens. AI could help reduce backlogs through automated cause-list preparation, transcription, research, and defect scrutiny, but its use also raises serious concerns.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Fintech In India: An Overview Of The Current Regulatory Landscape

India's fintech market is one of the fastest growing in the world, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Estimates put the market at about USD 145 billion at the end of 2025, growing at a compound annual rate of 30.55% to reach roughly USD 550 billion by 2030. India's fintech adoption rate is around 87%, reportedly the highest anywhere and well above the global average of roughly 64% to 67%. Add the world's second-largest digital population and the runway looks long.
IndiaTechnology
Legitpro Law
Legitpro Law
Article

CERT-In’s New AI-Vulnerability Guidelines: A Quick-Reference For OEMs, Tech Vendors And In-House Counsel

Cybersecurity regulation in India has, until now, largely spoken to the entity that suffers the breach. The 2022 CERT-In Directions issued under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 fixed a six-hour reporting clock on the organisation that detects an incident. The new Guidelines flip the lens onto the entity upstream of that breach, the OEM or technology provider that built the product in the first place. For the first time, vendors supplying software, firmware, cloud platforms, or APIs into India carry direct, time-bound, and independently verifiable obligations of their own and not obligations that are merely passed through a customer contract, but obligations CERT-In itself may enforce.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Cybersecurity Is Now A Contract Risk: What India's New Power-Sector Regulations Mean For Technology Vendors

For most technology vendors, cybersecurity has been a promise made to a customer, set out in a statement of work and enforced, if at all, through the contract. For vendors supplying India's power sector, that is changing. The Central Electricity Authority (Cyber Security in Power Sector) Regulations, 2026, notified on 31 July 2026 under the Electricity Act, 2003, impose obligations directly on vendors, alongside a far more demanding set of requirements for the power-sector entities they serve. Most of these provisions come into force on 1 April 2027.
IndiaTechnology
Legitpro Law
Legitpro Law
Article

No Private University To Operate As A Profit-Making Institution: Supreme Court’s Recent Order

The Supreme Court vide its recent order dated September 17, 2026 (“Order”) in the matter of Ayesha Jain v. Amity University, Noida & Ors., [W.P. (C) No. 531/2025] came down heavily on the manner of operation of universities and issued a series of stringent directions requiring greater disclosure by universities, including with respect to their finances, admissions, staffing, grievance redressal and regulatory compliance
IndiaFinance and Banking
LexCounsel
LexCounsel