Reserve Bank of India Calls For Crypto Regulation

The Reserve Bank of India has called on the Supreme court to regulate the nation’s cryptocurrency ecosystem as the legal fight with crypto exchanges continue.

According to a report by local news outlet Financial express, the RBI senior advocate Shyam Divan argued that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin “encourage illegal transactions” and generally impact “international flow of funds” as long as the industry remains unregulated.

Speaking further, the senior counsel mentioned that cryptocurrencies have ‘immense policy dimensions’ and also that the assignment of producing a regulatory framework for regulating cryptocurrencies has so far not been delivered by an interdisciplinary committee headed by the secretary of economic affairs, Subhash Garg, since last year.

The legal case under consideration is an outright ban by the RBI on banks in India, to stop any transactions with crypto-related business because of ‘high risks.’ Exchanges and crypto business owners in the region have since then applied to overturn the ban, but all to no avail.

While the ban is being upheld, it is becoming apparent through Divan’s comments that the RBI has nothing against the exchanges, but are looking to push the country towards regulating the crypto space as soon as possible.

A final hearing for the case has been rescheduled for September 11 instead of the original date, July 20 following a request by a senior counsel Gopal Subramanium representing the exchanges.

After referring to the ban by the Reserve Bank of India as ‘baseless,’ the law official also mentioned that nowadays payments can be done online and needs the cooperation of the banks. He also requested the Supreme court to hear and reach a conclusion on the issue since it “concerns the government.”

The crypto ecosystem in India will, for the meantime, remain crippled with banks shutting down on the exchanges until the Supreme court reverses the ban.

Would you settle for crypto regulations in India?