The volatility of crypto currency bitcoin worldwide in recent times has had its spinoffs in India as well. The bitcoin's value has declined at least 48 percent in less than two weeks, according to bitcoin exchange Zebpay, said a report in the Economic Times (ET) on Thursday.
According to data available with Zebpay, the value of the currency in India has declined from Rs 3,40,116 per unit on September 2 to hit a low of Rs 2,29,417 on September 15, indicating a fall of 48 per cent in less than two weeks.
The bitcoin's almost 50 percent fall appears to be making it fall much faster that elsewhere in the globe, after a China crackdown on crypto-currencies and public remark by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) official, trashing the digital currency, the report said.
Zebpay is an app-enabled bitcoin wallet provider headquartered in Singapore with IT offices in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Ahmedabad. Zebpay is involved in sale and purchase of bitcoins since 2011. It started India's first bitcoin exchange in 2012.
On the future of the crypto currency, bitcoin expert Hitesh Malviya was quoted by ET as saying that the bitcoin is a protocol, with money being the first application of the protocol. "Monetary aspect of bitcoin will face regulations in most countries. The future of bitcoin as currency will be more controlled and regulated by governments which will eventually reduce the volatility. It will devise a new method of payments for websites, social media and freelancers," Malviya told ET.
Bitcoin and newer rivals like Ethereum and Litecoin have in recent times been fighting a losing battle against regulators. Bitcoin, the biggest names among such non-fiat currencies, despite brief upticks in value, has been largely going through one of its toughest phases in 2017, plunging some 27 per cent since September 7 in global markets, the report said.
A Reserve Bank of India official, earlier this week, had virtually trashed the crypto currencies. "As regards non-fiat crypto-currencies, I think we are not comfortable," Sudharshan Sen, RBI's Executive Director, said at a Mumbai event, the ET report said.
News portal Inc42 reported third party sources as saying on Wednesday that the banking regulator has asked a group of experts to look into fiat crypto currency, which is basically a digital currency that could serve as an alternative to the Indian rupee.
Investment bank JP Morgan Chase has not been comfortable with the peer-to-peer crypto currency concept either. Company Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon had said earlier this week that he would fire any employee trading in Bitcoin for being 'stupid'. "The crypto-currency won't end well," he told an investor conference in New York on Tuesday, predicting that it will eventually blow up, the ET report noted.
Crypto-currencies, also called virtual currencies, are created and held electronically. Bitcoin, invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, is commonly known as a decentralised digital currency.
