It's Thursday again, so it must be Throwback Thursday.
Today I look back at the crypto ban India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), placed on the sale or purchase of cryptocurrency. According to a document published by the RBI April 5, 2018, it read:
In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling [virtual currencies]. Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time. A circular in this regard is being issued separately.
The RBI had given banks three months to cease relationships. As a result, it left India's crypto exchanges in a state of turmoil. Sathvik Vishwanath, the co-founder of Unocoin, said: "No other player in India was foreseeing this, and it comes as a shock. People are trying to exit as they feel they won't be able to cash out after three months."
Last year, with India close to implementing a blanket ban on crypto, venture capitalist Tim Draper said that it was "akin to the Luddites" and that it would set the country "back 40 years." Fast-forward to 2020, and an intervention from India's Supreme Court has seen the crypto ban being revoked. At the beginning of March, the bench, headed by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, overruled the central bank’s circular on the grounds of disproportionality.
Nischal Shetty, founder and CEO of crypto exchange WazirX, said that it was a "historic day for crypto in India," adding "we can now innovate. The entire country can participate in the blockchain revolution."
