India’s apex court has rejected an appeal to temporarily halt the ban on providing banking services to cryptocurrency exchanges. This comes two days before the deadline given by RBI.
The supreme court in its ruling today squashed a petition brought before it by the Internet and Mobile Association of India which listed cryptocurrency operators as its members. The association asked the court in June to suspend the ban by 1 month after the final hearing on July 20th.
Recall that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in April issued a circular to financial institutions to prohibit them from providing services to cryptocurrency businesses. The directive which also bars the banks’ clients from purchasing cryptocurrencies using from their accounts will become active on July 5th.
Cryptocurrency Businesses Plan Exits
As the RBI’s deadline approach, some cryptocurrency operators have started moving their businesses overseas. Local news channel NDTV reports that at least two businesses have made exit plans.
International Digital Asset Platform (IDAP), founded by Indians will have its operational base in the European nation of Estonia. The CEO of IDAP, Awanish Rajan said that “businesses need their freedom to operate with efficiency, so shifting out is what exchanges will, sooner than later, do.” He explained that people involved in crypto will not easily give up the time, effort and resources they put in building cryptocurrency businesses or earnings.
The report also mentioned that BuyUCoin plans to move to a crypto-friendly Singapore. The move is expected to materialize in August.
Hope For Cryptocurrency Regulations In India
It is not all doom and gloom for cryptocurrency operations in India as they seem to have the support of the central government. The secretary of India’s Department of Economic Affairs Subash Chandra Garg, last week, confirmed reports that the government was preparing regulations for the cryptocurrency sector. He said:
“We are fairly close to developing a template [for crypto regulations] that we think is in the best interests of the country. We have prepared a draft which we intend to discuss with the committee members in the first week of July.”
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
