Indian media: Bitcoin can replace gold and become a substitute for cash

As the government confiscates private gold and strictly restricts imports, many mainstream Indian media, including The Times of India and India Today, have begun to report on Bitcoin. Some news media platforms have made no secret of their positive views on Bitcoin, believing that Bitcoin can achieve its original goals on behalf of the government.

The original purpose of the Indian government's demonetization, gold confiscation, and restrictions or even banning of gold imports was to combat domestic criminal activities. The reason why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented strict capital controls was to reduce the crime rate by limiting the liquidity of criminals' funds.

However, the Modi government overlooked an important detail - ordinary people and criminals are using the same currency.

Mainstream media coverage

As experts predicted, the demonetization and confiscation of gold brought a fatal blow to the Indian economy and had a very negative impact. People had to queue up for days to exchange new banknotes, and some even died due to exhaustion.

The situation got worse when the Reserve Bank of India announced that more than 65% of the country’s ATMs were unable to accept the new notes. Currently, only 35% of the country’s ATMs are functioning properly.

India's economy and financial system have fallen into chaos, and mainstream media and the Internet have begun to turn their attention to Bitcoin. The Times of India and other media have opened Bitcoin columns to introduce this digital currency to ordinary people. As personal gold reserves have been threatened by the government, experts and media believe that Bitcoin can replace gold and become a substitute for cash.

Since the demonetization crisis and gold confiscation, Indian media has started talking a lot about Bitcoin.

More importantly, the media's extensive coverage of Bitcoin has increased the demand for this digital currency among Indian people. Sunny Ray, president and co-founder of Indian Bitcoin exchange Unocoin, said in an interview that Bitcoin demand in India has doubled since the implementation of the demonetization policy.

Indian media platform DailyO said that in the past week, the number of people asking about Bitcoin has increased by 20% to 30%. The number of users of Indian wallet operator Zebpay is also growing rapidly.

As the mainstream media reported, Bitcoin has gradually transformed into a safe-haven asset in India, replacing the status of gold. As Indians gain a deeper understanding of Bitcoin, the volume of Bitcoin transactions will surely increase significantly in the coming months.