Cryptocurrency is not money, its value is ‘purely speculative’: RBI Deputy Governor
RBI's Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar described cryptocurrency as “just a piece of code”
Cryptocurrency is not a real currency and its value is “purely speculative”, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Friday (December 12).
Speaking at the Mint Annual BFSI Conclave 2025 in Mumbai, Sankar described cryptocurrency as “just a piece of code”.
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“The historical evolution of cryptocurrency is the outcome of decades of search… to the best of my knowledge, started in the 50s or maybe earlier. The creation of Bitcoin was a result of that search,” Sankar said.
He described the Blockchain technology as “revolutionary”, and Bitcoin was a tool to demonstrate it.
“The Bitcoin, or rather the Blockchain technology that underlined the Bitcoin, demonstrated that a digital token can be transferred between unknown counterparts without a need for an intermediary. This technology was revolutionary. It can have many uses… While the technology itself was revolutionary, Bitcoin was just a tool to demonstrate the technology.”
Further, he stated, “It (Bitcoin) had no value, either intrinsic or as a promised to pay. It was not money. The price of Bitcoin today does not represent value in the same way money has value. This value is purely speculative, like the price of a tulip… To summarise, cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value; they are not backed by any promise to pay, that is, there is no issuer. Since they do not have the basic attributes of money, they are not money. Since they do not have any underlying cash flows, they are not financial assets as well.”