Deadline for Implementing Indian Central Bank’s Ban on Crypto Dealings Ends

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) deadline to implement ban to stop dealing with all crypto-related accounts expires Thursday, July 5, local news outlet The Times of India reports. The Supreme Court had also ruled earlier this week not to grant interim relief to those affected by the upcoming ban.

Panjak Jain, who works in Indian blockchain and crypto communities as an investor and an advisor, tweeted on July 3 that “it’s unfortunate, but India’s Supreme court refused to stay the @RBI’s limitation on regulated entities from working w/ #crypto businesses.” Jain added that the “silver lining” is that the central bank has to provide their reasoning for the ban in one week.

At the beginning of April, RBI announced that they would no longer be providing services to people or businesses that dealt in cryptocurrencies — which is not the same as a general ban on crypto.

India’s Supreme Court then denied a May injunction against RBI’s crypto dealings-ban sought by eleven different crypto-related businesses, adding a week later that no further petitions against the RBI ban can be filed in the High Court. India’s Supreme Court has reportedly set the date for the hearing on the existing petitions for July 20.

Today’s deadline to implement the ban means that Indian citizens will no longer be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on exchanges, but will instead need to use peer-to-peer networks, The Times of India writes. If an Indian citizen wants to exchange crypto to fiat, then they will need to then use marketplace exchanges.

Additionally, crypto exchanges and companies will not be able to receive loans from banks in India.

One direct result of the ban is that Indian cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay announced on July 4 that it would be freezing Indian rupee deposits and withdrawals before the ban came into effect.

Jason A. Williams, a partner at Morgan Creek Digital Assets, also tweeted about the Supreme Court upholding RBI’s ban:

“This decision puts India at a tremendous strategic disadvantage regarding innovation around Blockchain 

India Trashed Rupee notes to expose corruption. They banned crypto to control the people.”

The crypto markets have seen a small slump today, which could be attributed to the news from India. Bitcoin (BTC) has dipped below $6,500, at around $6,470 by press time and down a little less than 3 percent over a 24 hour period. Ethereum (ETH) is trading for around $461, down a little less than one percent over a 24 hour period by press time.