India’s First Bitcoin Think Tank Launches On Independence Day. Its Mission? Financial Sovereignty

On India’s Independence Day, August 15, 2025, at 12:00 a.m. local time, the Bitcoin Policy Institute of India (BPI India) announced its official launch.

The think tank, which will advocate for Bitcoin as a strategic tool to help secure India’s economic future, made this announcement on India’s Independence Day to point out that national independence and financial sovereignty go hand in hand.

The institute plans to provide data-driven research and education to policymakers, regulators and the citizens of India in efforts to foster a clear pro-Bitcoin policy framework, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.

It also plans to introduce bitcoin as a hedge to geopolitical uncertainty, a network that can reduce transaction costs and a means to turn the country’s abundant energy resources into a strategic monetary asset — the latter being a trend that has begun in many parts of the Global South.

“Just as India’s freedom fighters of yore secured our political independence, this generation has the opportunity to secure our financial sovereignty on a global, open monetary standard,” said Mithilesh Kumar Jha, founding fellow at BPI India, in the press release.

“Our mission is to ensure India doesn’t just participate in this new financial paradigm, but leads it. We are not just advocating for a technology but for a stronger, more atmanirbhar (self-reliant) India,” he added.

BPI India’s Five-Pillar Approach

BPI India plans to address the critical need for clear and concrete policy in a domain that its founding members believe is often marked by misinformation and regulatory ambiguity.

For this reason, it plans to focus its efforts around five strategic pillars:

1. The Sovereign Mining Initiative: This provides guidance for how state-level governments in India can best convert renewable energy into bitcoin.
2. Policy Advocacy and Research: This serves as a credible resource for federal- and state-level government officials.
3. The Strategic Research Initiative: This builds and strengthens the case for bitcoin as a national and corporate treasury asset.
4. Education: This helps to demystify Bitcoin for the general public and promote broader financial literacy.
5. Enabling Commerce and Payments: This helps to accelerate the ability to make low-cost, global transactions with bitcoin in a country where payments on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network have yet to become popular.

Avi Burra, a founding fellow at BPI India, provided broader insights into BPI India’s approach:

“Our goal is to work with policymakers to bring greater clarity to the Bitcoin ecosystem,” said Burra in the press release. “A predictable regulatory framework is the key to unlocking India’s full potential for innovation while ensuring consumer protection.”

Burra also added that the first pillar of the institute’s approach was inspired by one of India’s neighbors to the northeast.

“Our initial focus will be on demonstrating how a clear policy on sustainable Bitcoin mining can be a net positive for India’s energy grid and create sovereign wealth, much like the successful model seen in Bhutan,” he said.

Next Steps

The institute will begin its work by publishing a white paper on state-level mining opportunities and by initiating educational briefings with policymakers.

It will also issue what it calls the “CFO Playbook,” a guide for Indian corporations looking to adopt bitcoin as a treasury asset.

Many who have been working hard in the Indian Bitcoin space are anxiously waiting for BPI India to get started.

“An institution like BPI India is not just welcome, it’s necessary,” said Shreyan Joshi, education and events coordinator at Bitshala, a Bitcoin hub in India that trains the next generation of open source developers and designers, in the press release. “The global financial landscape is changing, and having a dedicated body to produce rigorous, India-focused research on this emerging asset class will be invaluable for both our public and private sectors to make informed decisions.”

For more information on BPI India, visit www.bitcoinpolicy.in or follow them on X at @BitcoinpolicyIN.