Indian Government Confirms Cryptocurrency Regulation in Final Stages

The government of India has told the country’s supreme court that the committee tasked with drafting crypto regulation is in the final stages of deliberations. The court plans to hear the petitions against the banking ban by the central bank after the government produces crypto regulation.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Gives Government 4 Weeks to Produce Crypto Regulation

Crypto Regulation in Final Stages

The Indian supreme court briefly heard the crypto case on Monday. Lawyer Jaideep Reddy of Nishith Desai Associates was at the court representing the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in its writ petition against the crypto banking ban by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He told news.Bitcoin.com on Friday that “The matter was heard for a very short period of time,” elaborating:

The matter started with the counsel for the Union of India stating that its committee is in the final stages of deliberations and that the matter should be heard after that.

After hearing the government’s counsel, “The court reacted by saying that 4 weeks’ time would be given and stated to the said counsel that this was the last chance that time would be given for the same,” Reddy detailed.

The court order from Monday’s hearing states that “Upon hearing the counsel the court made the following order … Four weeks time is granted, as a last opportunity, to the Union of India to do the needful.” The crypto case will be listed for hearing after four weeks.

Fighting the RBI Ban

Responding to the court’s decision, “the petitioner exchanges’ counsel responded that the matter concerns the challenge to the RBI circular, which is an altogether separate issue from the committee report, and that as the court said last time, the validity of the RBI circular should be heard and decided independently,” Reddy explained to news.Bitcoin.com. He added:

The counsel also mentioned that with each passing day, employee livelihoods are being lost.

Nonetheless, he said “the court deemed it fit to hear the matter only after 4 weeks.” India’s central bank issued a circular in April last year banning banks from providing services to crypto businesses. The ban went into effect in July and all local crypto exchanges subsequently stopped allowing customers to withdraw fiat through bank accounts.

Zebpay, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the country, shut down its Indian exchange activities altogether due to the banking restriction. Some crypto exchanges have found creative solutions to combat the banking problem such as by launching exchange-escrowed peer-to-peer services which they claim to have grown much in popularity.

Do you think the Indian government will come up with positive regulation for cryptocurrency? Do you think the supreme court will lift the RBI ban? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.