Underscoring the monetary stability and fiscal policy risks, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar on Friday said that cryptocurrency is not really a currency because it does not have the basic features of money.
Speaking at the Mint Annual BFSI Conclave 2025, the RBI deputy governor described cryptocurrency as ‘just a piece of code,’ which is not even a financial asset or any kind of asset at all.
Sankar explained why these tokens don't qualify as money. “Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value. They are not backed by a promise to pay, and they have no issuer. Their value is purely speculative,” he observed.
Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that run on decentralised blockchain networks rather than being issued or controlled by a central bank. In India, they remain unregulated, and while trading or transacting in them is neither banned nor illegal, such activity attracts heavy taxation.
“Beyond the facilitation of illicit payments and circumvention of capital measures, stablecoins raise significant concerns for monetary stability, fiscal policy, banking intermediation, and systemic resilience,” Sankar added.
Currency or deposits carry a promise from a trusted issuer, and money derives its credibility from the sovereign that backs its value. The fundamental challenge with cryptocurrencies is that they claim to redefine the very nature of money, yet represent no underlying value at all, Rabi Sankar said at the event.
RBI calls crypto ‘pure gambling’
On being asked whether crypto trading is the same as real money gambling, Sankar said unbacked cryptocurrencies are “pure gamble based on mathematical bets.”
The RBI deputy governor's view assumes significance as crypto traders simply place bets on price movements whenever an event occurs.
India imposed a nationwide ban on all real-money gaming apps in August 2025 when the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, was enacted into law and formally enforced on 1 October 2025.
Rabi Sankar also pointed out that since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin do not have any underlying cash flow, they cannot be called “financial assets”.
