India has been ‘infamous’ amongst the crypto-community for not being very supportive of blockchain’s groundbreaking interventions. The country’s leadership has been sitting on the fence, unable to decide its crypto policy. Contrary to what one would expect from India, yesterday the country’s top financial institution the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave investors a reason to cheer up.
In a statement to the press, the RBI said that the earlier 2018 directive which restricted banks to facilitate crypto trading and payments, now stood null and void. Effectively it means that banking and financial institutions can now facilitate crypto trading and payments. However, it must be noted that it does not qualify as “legalization” or regulation of cryptocurrencies.
The top banking authority has made it clear that the previous restrictions are no longer in effect and that the Supreme Court’s guidelines issued in the matter will be followed. The new ruling from the RBI comes against a total push-back from the conventional banking and trading firms that have been outspoken about the perils of trading in cryptocurrencies.
In recent years many crypto exchanges have come up in India and the number of investors continues to rise. India is amongst the biggest economies globally and a bigger and favourable crypto environment in the country is bound to have a positive impact on the crypto markets in general. The new RBI directive and clarification has given a much-anticipated relief to Indian crypto investors and exchanges.
