Today, Sept. 11, the Supreme Court of India will write the final line in the story of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian crypto exchanges’ conflict. The final hearing is to take place, the crypto community in India and around the world is looking forward to the results.
Some background
In spring, the RBI issued a direction to banks to suspend services for companies that trade digital assets and gave them three months to comply. The deadline came in early June and since then the crypto sphere in India has had a very bad time. E.g., the number of traders at one of the local exchanges diminished ten times from 200,000.
Crypto exchanges responded by taking the RBI to court, however, the decision was postponed until September. Apart from the RBI, crypto platforms sued the Indian watchdog SEBI and a few other agencies on the same issue.
Darryn PollockP2P alternative, RBI eyes Blockchain
Some Indian exchanges after that began to use the decentralized method of trading, allowing investors to buy and sell in the P2P mode. This got the RBI worried since by its ban it was trying to secure crypto investors from frauds and price fluctuations on the market.
Curiously, recently the Indian government, engaging the RBI, launched a task force to study the open ledger technology and is considering the conversion of the local fiat currency, Rupee, into the centralized, digital format.
Crypto crimes in India
Considering the fact that con artists in India are actively extorting electronic coins from investors, attempts of the RBI to protect traders from scams and frauds seem reasonable. However, when it comes to kidnapping, the Central Banks’ officials and their attempts can change nothing.
Cyril Gilson
Alex Dovbnya
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin