Demonetize Crypto Currencies on November 8, 2017… Arun Jaitely Ji….

I welcome the move of the Government to celebrate November 8, 2017 as “Anti Black Money Day”.

While politically, this is a reply to the opposition who wants to oppose the demonetization, I want Modi Government and Mr Arun Jaitely not to simply stop at counter rhetorics for the sake of TV media but to take the “Anit Black Money Drive” further.

Presently, if one goes through the various articles on this site, it is clear that I am blaming the Government and particularly the ministry under Mr Arun Jaitely that they have failed to take action against Bitcoins which in my opinion is required for curbing the growth of “Digital Black Money”.

I continue to hold this opinion until the Government takes the firm step of banning Bitcoin and all other private Crypto Currencies. I also continue to speculate that there could be vested interests in the Government who are not interested in eliminating Bitcoins because they themselves may hold Bitcoins.

Though this may displease MR Arun Jaitely as well as others around him and it is not fair to tar the entire ministry officials with the accusation of vested interest, as an observer from outside, there is no other conclusion that we can draw when we see that the Finance Ministry dithering in taking its decision.

If there are some “Good Bureaucrats” who feel offended by my repeated accusations, I request them to pardon me but at the same time come out into the open and state whether they want Bitcoin to be banned or not and why a decision on this is being delayed by other “Bad Bureaucrats”. If Good people remain silent, it means that they are passively assisting bad people. This is the time for people to take a stand on Bitcoin and either come in support of it or oppose it whole heartedly.

We have seen that when the Government released a policy for the public opinion through MyGov.in with a query “Should Bitcoin be banned, regulated or continue to be observed ?”, the query itself was unwise. Regulation and Banning were same and “Continue to Observe” was an absurd decision to seek public opinion on. This was perhaps first time that a Government was seeking public opinion for not doing anything on an important issue and allowing speculation to thrive.

Then the MCX which was part of the Government controlled regulator tried to meddle with the public opinion and officially intervened with its opinion on the My Gov platform until it was withdrawn after being challenged by the undersigned.

But the Ministry did not respond to the objection raised even with an acknowledgement.

Subsequently, the Finance Ministry stated that they have formed a committee to look into the public opinion expressed on the My Gov query without naming the members of the committee and later stated that a Committee of RBI will take the decision.

So far no decision has come forth and effectively, the absurdity of Government “continuing to observe” continues. This is the classic method of “Taking No decision is also a decision”. It works some times but in the current case it has only aided and abetted speculation in Bitcoin and there is no way independent observers like us cannot think that this is a deliberate move so that vested interests close to the decision makers or the decision makers themselves are benefiting by promoting the speculation.

This however has not prevented from “Leaks” coming from the Finance Ministry officials some times stating that Bitcoins will be regulated, some times stating that Bitcoins will be banned and some times stating that Government will introduce its own Cryptocoin etc.

All these things only add up to a “game” being played by vested interests. Some time back there was a private query on me why I say that “A game is being played”. I suppose the flipflops above are a clear reason why I think that somebody is playing a game.

Now therefore, when the Government says that it will observe November 8 as an Anti Black Money Day”, while we welcome the move, we also express our doubt if this is just a political counter narration and nothing else.

If the Government is serious,….Mr Arun Jaitely…kindly clarify if you are personally committed and serious on this issue…… why the Government cannot appreciate that the “Bitcoin” is a repository of “Black Money”. It is a representation of “Digital Black Money” and now it is present in the form of multiple Crypto Coins.

The operators of this Digital Black money are so confident that the Government of India would rule in their favour that they are willing to release advertisements in news papers for recruiting CEO for new Bitcoin business units and promote Bitcoin as an investment for Diwali instead of Gold.

It is a shame that the Government does not act to curb such attempts.

This is like keeping quiet when some body advertises :

“Here is a great opportunity to convert all your Black Money to an internationally accepted benami property Convert your Bank deposits to Bitcoins…today”

or inviting professionals with an advertisement

“Apply if you want to be  a CEO for Digital Black Money India Limited”. 

Mr Jaitely in an intelligent lawyer and also a Finance specialist. I therefore donot think that he does not understand the implication of Bitcoin promotion and its legalization on our economy.

Hence I take it that if Bitcoin is not being banned now, it is because Mr Jaitely does not want it to be banned.

It is now time for Mr Jaitely to prove me wrong. The occassion is November 8, 2017. The means is to announce “Demonetization of Private Crypto Currencies”.

If Mr Jaitely does not want to do it, then the ball is in the Court of Mr Modi once again. But it can even be done by Mr Urjit Patel on behalf of RBI.

Will any of these three people have the guts to act in the interest of eliminating Black Money in Digital Form?

I will watch for 8.00 pm on November 8 to hear …”Bhaiyon or Beheno” in Modi style or “Brothers and Sisters” in Swami Vivekananda style….that India has taken a tryst with destiny to eliminate Black Money not only in Physical currency form but also in Crypto Currency form.

If the Government does not know the modalities for implementation of a Crypto Currency ban, then free consultancy would be made available to the Government on what can be done.

Will Mr Arun Jaitely, the Honourable Minister of Finance respond?

Naavi