The Indian government has two weeks to produce a finalized version of cryptocurrency policies, declares the country’s supreme court.
In April this year, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) enforced a ban. This prohibited financial institutions from facilitating any crypto-related transactions or offering their services to any business in the industry. This controversial imposition sparked outrage from the local cryptocurrency community, with the supreme court finally hearing their case this week following months of petitions.
Currently, there are no official state-issued policies banning cryptocurrency. However, Nakul Dewan, a counsel for nine crypto exchanges opposing RBI’s ban, said that the RBI has stopped nearly all Bitcoin transaction taking place in India. Evidently, this unclear legal situation has discouraged traders.
Speaking at the court hearing Thursday, Dewan said that with employees and jobs on the line, the government needed to set out a clear policy stance. Thereby, ending the uncertainty caused by RBI’s decision in April.
RBI counsel Shyam Divan defended the bank’s position, saying that it merely has attempted to discourage the use of cryptocurrencies, while the real power for prohibiting them remains with the government. After hearing both cases, the Supreme Court justices told the government it had two weeks to clarify its policy stance.
Responding to the hearing, a team of blockchain-related lawyers working under the platform name Crypto Kanoon posted on Twitter: ”Counsel for Union of India apprised that Committee is going to come up with a report on crypto. Court has directed the Govt. to file Counter Affidavit within 2 weeks.”
Crypto Matter heard today in Court no. 8 as item no. 19.
Counsel for Union of India apprised that Committee is going to come up with a report on Crypto.
Court has directed the Govt. to file Counter Affidavit within 2 weeks.
Matter to be listed after 2 weeks now. #RBI
— Crypto Kanoon (@cryptokanoon) October 25, 2018
The original petition following RBIs decision has over 44,000 signatures to date with a goal of reaching 50,000, calling for the government to reverse the ban.
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