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India Vows To Eliminate Use of Cryptocurrencies in the Country (hindustantimes.com)
India will move to stamp out use of cryptocurrencies, which it considers illegal, country's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, launching a no-holds-barred attack on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. From a report: Governments around the world are grappling with how to regulate cryptocurrency trading, and policymakers are expected to discuss the matter at a G20 summit in Argentina in March. "The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system," Jaitley told parliament in his annual budget speech. However, the minister said, the government would explore use of block chain technology proactively to speed the move toward a digital economy. Jaitley's announcement could trigger "panic selling" in cryptocurrencies in India, said Amit Maheshwari, partner at tax consultants Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP.
cryptocurrencies are not actually currencies at the moment; they are gambling instruments, in that people are holding them on the expectation that they will rise in value. Are cryptocurrencies actually used as currencies in monetary transactions?
They turn out to be very bad currencies, since their rate of deflation is huge (when the value of a currency goes up, that's deflation, not inflation: goods and services are becoming less expensive expressed in units of the currency.). A currency with high deflation doesn't work well, it makes more sense to keep it than to spend it, and spending is what makes currency currency.