India lifts cryptocurrency ban
Publish date: 13 March 2020
Issue Number: 111
Diary: CompliNEWS
Category: Finance
Legalbrief Today Issue 4892
Amid a struggling global stock market, the Supreme Court of India ruled this week against the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on cryptocurrencies. A Jurist report notes that the initial ban originated in 2018 after financial regulators and the Indian Government began to examine the emerging cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ripple and ethereum. At that time they had ‘concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others’. Consequently, Indian banks were ordered by the RBI to sever all ties with all cryptocurrency entities. Numerous startup, technology and other companies that dealt in currencies were almost immediately crippled by the inability to utilise Indian banks for their global work. Multiple crypto exchanges brought suit against the RBI restriction and ultimately the court ruled that it was not valid law and struck it down. The court said these new currency types presented no visible damage to banks and a complete ban was not proportionate. The cryptocurrency exchanges have welcomed the verdict. ‘The win belongs to the entire crypto community in India,’ co-founder of Unocoin Sathvik Vishwanath wrote in a blog post.
