SC asks central govt to clear stand on bitcoins

New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central government to make its stand clear on whether bitcoin is illegal. A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Surya Kant asked the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati to make its stand clear on the bitcoin issue. The Court sought the reply from the Centre and asked it to make its stand clear in the issue, after hearing a petition filed by one of the accused in the GainBitcoin scam – Ajay Bhardwaj seeking quashing of the case against him. “Is it illegal or not? You have to make your stand clear,” Justice Surya Kant asked Bhati. To this, Bhati replied, “We will do that my lord.” The accused, Ajay along with mastermind and brother Amit Bhardwaj are accused of running a multi-level marketing scheme promising huge returns to investors. ASG Bhati told the Apex Court that the case involves 87,000 bitcoins and the accused was not cooperating with the probe in the case.