According to wikipedia, the total black money of Indians in the Swiss Banks is around US $ 1.2 Trillion.
Seen in this context, the Enforcement Directorate accusing the Bitcoin system as a tool of hawala appears a joke.
At present the total Bitcoin stock ever mined is valued at around US $ 10 billion. The stock of bitcoins in India is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total bitcoin population.
The ED recently unearthed a hawala network in Punjab worth over Rs 1000 crores involving bogus invoicing of exports. The amount of black money used in Indian elections is of the order of thousands of crores. The amount of bribes that our politicians take each year is of the order of several lakh crores.
If US $ 1400 billion (Rs 70 lakh crores) has gone out of India and reached Swiss Banks, it indicates that the ED has failed miserably in controlling the illegal movement of funds from India to foreign countries whether in the form of cash or otherwise. According to one estimate, the amount of cash moving out each year is itself of the order of Rs 4 lakh crores.
Hence the possibility of bitcoins being used as a major tool of hawala transactions requiring the ED to conduct raids on two bitcoin operators in Ahmedabad is not a credible argument.
In the light of such information, the enforcement Directorate needs to answer the Bitcoin community about why the department considers Bitcoin a threat more than the other known forms of hawala.
Probably the ED was excited about the prospect of  identifing some Bitcoin trading to Narendra Modi or Amit Shah so that they can raise another hue and cry against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
Naavi
