The word bitcoin is creating quite a buzz in Nepal these days? But many of us don’t have a complete idea of what it is. Today in this article I will discuss what bitcoin is and why is it illegal in Nepal.
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Bitcoin is a new currency that was made by an unknown person using computer-generated process mining in 2009. It is the world’s most expensive currency and the best thing is it doesn’t belong to any country. One bitcoin is equivalent to 9.4 lakh Nepali rupees which means 1 Nepali rupee is equal to 0.0000011 bitcoin (data dated March 2020). The uniqueness of bitcoin is that transactions are made with no middlemen i.e no regulatory banks.
What bitcoin actually is?
You can use your bitcoin to book hotels, shop for furniture or buy Xbox games. Bitcoin is so much popular not just because it is a currency but because people trade it for earning money. They take it as an investment. It became popular when its price skyrocketed in 2020. We will discuss it in detail below.
You can even buy merchandise anonymously using bitcoin. In addition, international payments are easy and cheap with bitcoins as it is not associated with any country. But this is no reason why many people buy bitcoin.
Most people buy bitcoins as an investment, hoping that their value will increase in the future giving them high returns. But Bitcoin is not legal in Nepal. The main reason behind this is that the transactions through bitcoin can not be recorded easily which may increase black monetary transactions.
Use of Bitcoin Cryptocurrency
Your bitcoin can be used to book hotels, shop for furniture or buy Xbox games. Bitcoin is so much popular not just because it is a currency but because people trade it for earning money. They take it as an investment. It became popular when its price skyrocketed in 2020.
Is Bitcoin legal in Nepal?
But it is not legal in Nepal. We will discuss it in detail below.
According to the Central and regulatory bank of Nepal i.e. Nepal Rastra Bank, on 13th August 2017, it was announced that bitcoins operations and other any sort of cryptocurrency are illegal in Nepal. Bitcoins were never legal in the country despite different multinational companies like bitsewa bitcoin exchange operating in the country were still using but this system has been completely shut down all over the country. There are different notices published by Nepal police too on the illegal use of bitcoins in Nepal. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank Act 2058, bitcoins are not recognized currency in Nepal. we can have a look at the notice from Nepal Rastra Bank
Bitcoins are being unsuccessful in convincing government and people whereas bitcoins have got great potential in countries like Nepal. The export of national currency in an international market for buying bitcoins is the main concern. This system may distract the slaves from working, due to which the government dislikes the system.
If you have bitcoins with you then you can use them for your digital signature which won’t be against that NRB’s policy, but if you want to operate bitcoins for daily purposes on business will be against NRB’s terms.
Why is Bitcoin illegal in Nepal?
Bitcoins can be used to buy merchandise anonymously. In addition, international payments are easy and cheap with bitcoins as it is not associated with any country. But this is no reason why many people buy bitcoin. Most people buy bitcoins as an investment, hoping that their value will increase in the future giving them high returns.
The government worked very hard to bring bitcoin to Nepal but after realizing that this technology is still very tough to handle in the Nepali market, the only bitcoin trading platform of Nepal Bitcoin Exchange closed its service.
Nepal Rastra bank officially announced bitcoin illegal in Nepal in 2076. Recently on October 6, 2020, CIB arrested suspects involved in running bitcoin exchange operations in Nepal. They violated the strict orders of NRB about the use of Bitcoin and the running cryptocurrency exchange business in Nepal.
For now, Nepal is not in the position of making the trading of Bitcoin legal in any circumstances.
The government of Nepal is not quite positive towards cryptocurrencies just yet, because they are discussing their implementation so we can hope that in the near future bitcoin will be legal in Nepal.
Well, why is bitcoin illegal in Nepal? The main reason behind it is that the transactions of bitcoin are very hard to supervise as it involves no middlemen. Bitcoin has made the exchange of money within countries very easy so people can easily transfer their black money to other countries. Thus many criminal activities will increase. This is the reason why it is illegal in Nepal. Also, the government of Nepal is not ready to handle this technology and the operational risk associated with it.
Countries where Bitcoin is legal
While Bitcoins are legal in many countries like The United States, Canada, Australia, European Union It is illegal in Iceland, Vietnam, Bolivia, and Kyrgyzstan like in Nepal. All the countries have their own reason for making it legal or illegal. For now, Bitcoin is completely illegal in Nepal.
The peer-to-peer payment consensus network itself and digital cryptocurrency are known as Bitcoins. Bitcoins have existed since 2009. As in the case of Nepal also it has been introduced in 2009, they are popularly known as a buzz in Nepali press these days. It is a currency that has monetary value.
How To Make Bitcoin
Bitcoin is known as one of the virtual currencies that can be used to buy anything almost. It does not have any control type and is decentralized. These kinds of virtual currency are stored in a wallet. A transaction from bitcoin is more secure, fast, and anonymous. They are transactions from computer power processing and are created by mining.
It is one of the open sources as anyone can access the code easily. The prices of bitcoin are determined by demand and supply. Being called mining, they are mined originally with the requirement of huge and always-on computing resources, faster internetworking connectivity, and the ability to wait till some bitcoins are generated. To keep everyone synchronized system mining should be done on computer transactions over a secure network.
In 2009, January bitcoins are first started globally via the internet which was difficult to predict when it existed. As the system should be started accordingly but bitcoins mining was started in 2011.
