Indian Payments Giant Paytm Could Offer Bitcoin Services if Government Makes Crypto Legal, Says CFO

Paytm, one of India’s largest payments companies, is open to offering bitcoin services if the crypto asset becomes legal in the country, according to its chief financial officer. If bitcoin “was ever to become fully legal in the country, then clearly there could be offerings we could launch,” he said.

Paytm Open to Bitcoin Offerings

Paytm Chief Financial Officer Madhur Deora has indicated that his company is open to offering bitcoin services if the crypto asset becomes legal in India, local media reported Thursday, citing his recent interview with Bloomberg TV.

Deora was quoted as saying:

Bitcoin is still in a regulatory grey area if not a regulatory ban in India. At the moment Paytm does not do bitcoin. If it was ever to become fully legal in the country, then clearly there could be offerings we could launch.

In August last year, Paytm reportedly froze Paytm Payments Bank’s customer accounts suspected of crypto trading.

Paytm is currently India’s second most-valuable internet company. The company is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) between Nov. 8 and Nov. 10. The IPO, which is expected to take the company’s valuation to $20 billion, is poised to become the biggest IPO in the history of the Indian capital markets.

The Indian government has been working on a cryptocurrency bill for quite some time. Initially, the government was considering a bill to ban cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin. However, recent reports suggest that the government is now planning to regulate the crypto sector. The crypto legislation will be “distinct and unique,” one lawmaker said. Last month, Finance Ministry officials reportedly said that crypto regulation would most likely come around by February.

Meanwhile, the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), still has “serious concerns” about cryptocurrency, which have been communicated to the government. The RBI also said that a digital rupee model may be unveiled by the end of the year.

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