India’s crypto investors are entering a year of uncertainty

Bangkok For India’s crypto industry, there was only a glimmer of hope: “India has officially recognized Bitcoin as legal tender,” read the official Twitter account of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few weeks ago at two o’clock in the morning local time.

India wants to acquire 500 units of the digital currency and distribute them among the people, it said in the message to Modi’s 74 million followers. It didn’t take long before the authorities made it clear that the account had been hacked, and an attached link was part of a scam.

The incident coincides with the debate over a possible ban on cryptocurrencies in Asia’s third largest economy. The government had originally announced a corresponding law for December. Cryptoskeptics in the capital New Delhi are likely to feel strengthened by the hacking attack on Modi’s Twitter account: They complain that digital currencies are far too often associated with illegal transactions – and should therefore not have a place in the country.