India must note that bitcoin is much more than a cryptocurrency — Quartz India

The fate of India’s cryptocurrency ecosystem has been in limbo for a while.

In April 2018, the country’s central bank cut off the community’s ties with the financial system by barring banks from dealing with crypto exchanges. In July this year, an inter-ministerial panel, set up to study bitcoins, led by the top bureaucrat Subhash Chandra Garg, recommended imprisonment for those who even hold cryptocoins.

Yet, a steering committee report by the finance ministry, released in September, recommended a softer approach, citing the importance of blockchain technology, which powers cryptocurrencies, to fintech.

The uncertainty arising from the lack of a legal framework for the sector has taken its toll. It is important to take a fresh look at bitcoin, and see it not just as a cryptocurrency, but also a computer network and a technology protocol.

Three interpretations

As crypto investor Meltem Demirors recently argued before the US Congress, in a hearing on Facebook’s Libra, bitcoin is…