India’s central bank has reiterated its stance on banning cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether. The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likened cryptocurrency trading to gambling. He warned that crypto “will undermine the authority of the RBI and lead to the dollarization of the economy.”

RBI’s Governor Wants Crypto Banned

The governor of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, emphasized the bank’s stance on crypto at the Business Today Banking and Economy Summit Friday.

Das stressed that the central bank’s view is to completely ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, India Today reported, quoting him as saying: “RBI’s position on crypto is very clear — it should be banned.”

Emphasizing that cryptocurrencies have no underlying value, the Indian central bank governor described:

Some people call cryptocurrency an asset, some call it a financial product, but every asset or financial product needs to have an underlying value. But cryptocurrency does not have any underlying value.

Das proceeded to express his opinion on the market prices of cryptocurrencies, stating that they are based on speculation alone. He likened cryptocurrency trading to gambling.

“Anything whose valuation is dependent entirely on make-believe is nothing but 100% speculation, or to put it bluntly, it is gambling,” the RBI chief stressed. “In our country, we don’t allow gambling. If you want to allow gambling, treat it…