Bitcoin Legality in India Is a Political Hobgoblin

source: Bitcoin News

2017. Mar. 31. 12:00

Bitcoin Legality in India Is a Political Hobgoblin

What is the legality of Bitcoin in India? This is a gray area, but politicians have a tendency to say something negative about cryptocurrency. They do this to spin a yarn that it is “illegal.”

Also Read: Bitcoin Helps People Circumvent Economic Sanctions in Iran

This occurs because politicians use fear mongering to deter folks from certain behaviors, and these tactics weigh heavy on the hearts and minds of the peasant classes. People take any kind of political “warning” as an absolute dictum or law.

In reality, sociopaths called “world leaders” are merely passing judgement on people who choose to live freely of their own volition; they are condemning people who choose to buy stuff with their own money.

This exact thing happened on March 28 in India. The India Economic Times reported the minister of finance Arjun Ram Meghwal replied to the Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha, that using Bitcoin “could” lead to consequences for anyone who dares to disobey. He said:

“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 laws”

Apple-Gagged Politician Pigs and the Indian LSD Drug Bust

The key word above is “could.” This does not mean that Bitcoin is “illegal” in India. Politicians are having trouble passing specific laws to quell the use of Bitcoin. The politicians are afraid of cryptocurrency. Their laws and regulations always fall light years behind the development and evolution of technology. This causes the elites to squirm and squeal like apple-gagged pigs.

This fear mongering of Bitcoin comes alongside drug raids in India.

Recently, there was a “drug ring” busted for possessing and selling LSD. For anyone unfamiliar, LSD or Lysergic acid diethylamide, is a psychedelic drug that produces visionary states of mind that allow people to heal, introspect, and experience love for life. It is not an evil drug that kills people. The only thing evil is the cops and politicians who cage the innocent for possessing the compound.

The Times of India reported on March 30, “The anti-narcotics cell of the city police arrested five people, including two students of two reputed colleges in the western suburbs, for drug trafficking and recovered psychedelic drug LSD worth Rs 70 lakh (about 7 million dollars) on Wednesday.”

The kicker is that the five people “drug ring” allegedly used bitcoin to make their sells. The media leveraged fake news to make Bitcoin sound evil as a result of the drug bust. They suggested bitcoin has been regularly used as a dastardly medium of exchange in drug transactions.

The media tied it in with the recent fear mongering about Bitcoin by the prime minister of India. The Times of India said, “The payments for the same were made through Bitcoins, a form of virtual currency. The government on Tuesday said Bitcoin is not authorised by RBI and any transction in it could result in breach of anti-money laundering provisions.”

Political Fear, Crypto-Legality, and Bitcoin the Hobgoblin

All of this political fear is indicative that the political class is having a fearful reaction against cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin. They are afraid their anti-humanitarian activities will be thwarted by people who want to live outside the scope of their rule. This has caused them to criticize and castigate bitcoin, while also sensationalizing the arrest of drug dealers who used bitcoin in their transactions.

In reality, it is false that bitcoin is illegal in India. Someone could accidentally stumble into the minefield of anti-money laundering laws and drug possession statutes, but just using Bitcoin or trading is not considered “illegal.” It’s just that it “could” be illegal, in the Prime Minister’s own words.

This Indian battle of whether Bitcoin should be legal or illegal, accepted and used, is really just a political dig to prevent the spread and adoption of cryptocurrencies. The Indian government is playing the age old game of thrones; they are manipulating the population to see Bitcoin as evil. They want people to run away from exploring this money rather than embrace it. In this way, Bitcoin is a new kind of enemy.

H.L. Mencken said it best,

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

In this case, Bitcoin is the hobgoblin, but the fear is indeed imaginary.

How can the Indian people overcome government fear mongering? 

Images via Shutterstock and Wallpaperbackgrounds.com page.

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