Plans by the Indian Central Bank to outright ban cryptocurrencies are getting pushback from the country’s Supreme Court.
In a hearing today, according to Cointelegraph, the court is looking at whether bank officials were regulating well in trying to nip the development of crypto services in the bud.
After the RBI stopped banks from serving crypto-operators in the summer of last year, there was a lot of confusion about the future of digital assets in the country.
A party present at the hearing chronicled criticism by Supreme Court Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman of a plan to create a digital rupee that would be the only legal cryptocurrency in India.
“Nariman gave the RBI just two weeks to justify its actions,” writes William Suberg today.
Estimates show India stands to lose a $13 billion market by banning all cryptocurrency.
For a while now, there has been the feeling that a crypto ban is pending.
“Although largely critical of decentralized currencies, the report does support the possibility of a state-issued digital currency in India,” wrote Yessi Bello Perez July 22 at Hard Fork, detailing a government committee outcome. “It also praises decentralized ledger technology, saying it is ‘an important and innovative technology, which will pay a major role in ushering in the digital age,’ but calls for specific legislation to promote and regulate the use of blockchain technology in financial and associated fields.”
For now, crypto is still legal, but that may soon change; John Biggs at Coindesk reported July 23 on the Indian government considering jail time for offending cryptocurrency holders after such a law goes into effect.
However, today’s news shows that hodlers may have a friend in the Supreme Court. Let’s see where this takes Indian crypto in the months to come.
