The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has expressed concern over cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and has stressed the need to regulate them. Speaking at an event, deputy governor R Gandhi said that crypto currencies have the potential to support criminal activities in money laundering, terrorist funding and tax evasion. "Crypto currencies have been widely suspected to finance criminal activities. We have to be carefully and critically watching these developments. That is why I said these innovative developments which have the potential to be disruptive, may not be of so desirable, or may be of questionable, relevance and merit," Gandhi added. At the same event, deputy governor SS Mundra also added that said there was a need to identify the grey zone areas in cryptocurrency quickly and to share experiences between different regulators to ensure consumer protection, as indicated by this EconoTimes report. Earlier last week, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan also mentioned that the apex bank is closely monitoring crypto currencies but has so far not intervened in them. "I would like to say that our philosophy is if it is small then let it develop, let us see how it works and then take a view. That was our attitude towards crypto currencies. It was very very small," Rajan was quoted saying by the Press Trust of India. Earlier in December 2013, the RBI issued a warning that it will not regulate any Virtual Currency including Bitcoin in India and warned people who were dealing with the currency in India of the…
