Update: India’s Cryptocurrency Banking Ban Hearing
The petition against the Reserve bank of India’s circular for banking ban of cryptocurrency companies was heard in the court this morning. The court declined to provide a stay against the RBI circular dated April 6 that banned cryptocurrency exchanges from having a banking account and have listed the matter for final verdict on September 11 according to CryptoKanoon.
India’s Cryptocurrency Banking Ban Hearing
The Reserve Bank of India released a circular on 6th April 2018 that asked all regulated banks to discontinue their relationships with businesses dealing in cryptocurrency. Many petitions were filed against the circular which were all directed to be heard in supreme court. The first hearing was held on 5th July where supreme court declined to provide a stay order against the circular and gave Reserve bank of India 7 days time to respond with reasons for the ban. The next hearing was scheduled to be on 20th July, i.e. today. The Reserve Bank of India responded with investor protection reasons in its response after a week.
The hearing of 20th July was held this morning. Limited arguments were advanced on behalf of IAMAI and RBI today. Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, Sr. Advocate representing IAMAI submitted that in the world of digitisation, such a circular from RBI would be a loss. Since SEBI and few others have not filed their response to the Petition seeking regulation, so the Court directed for completion of pleadings. The final arguments will be heard on 11th September.
Conclusion
This decision doesn’t come as a relief to the exchanges that have already discontinued deposits and withdrawals or all discontinuing them in the upcoming weeks. The next hearing of 11th September will be the judgement day for the indian crpytocurrency community. Let us know what you feel about this decision in the comments below.
Note: This article will be updated as new details emerge.
