The Indian Supreme Court has officially ruled in favour of the cryptocurrency industry in their battle with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) who had banned normal banking services or those holding crypto in 2018.
In a case which has gone on for months, after numerous entities filed petitions against the April 2018 ruling from the bank, the courts have finally deemed it unconstitutional. The decision was made by three Supreme Court justices and is being seen as a landmark case for a nation which has long been strict and anti the industry.
However, they may have won the battle but not the war, as the proposed crypto ban draft bill is still being considered in the Indian parliament, although this has been put back to the winter session.
This bill is said to be a nationwide ban on all cryptocurrency transactions and possible prison time for anyone holding crypto. This is all to set up the creation of a digital rupee it has been said. Yet, for now, business is back and reportedly booming in the Indian crypto industry.
Exchanges in India return to action
With news coming on Wednesday (4 March) of the successful court ruling. Domestic exchange CoinDCX was the fastest out the blocks, reopening their exchange within six hours of the ruling.
Major Indian crypto exchanges Unocoin and WazirX opened the next day with rupee (INR) and bank account deposits returning to both. WaZirX saw immediate returns with a reported transaction volume rising from about 750,000 US dollars to nearly 5.33 million US dollars in 24 hours according to a Jinse report.
This was certainly a day of jubilation for exchanges across the country, with some having tough times in the almost two years following the RBI’s decision. WaZirX is owned by Binance so they had the ability to continue in a far easier manner. Without that major backing, Unocoin was forced to suspend all fiat deposits in 2018 and had to lay off almost 50% of its staff as it struggled to keep the lights on.
Even more woes would hit Unocoin as they saw their founders arrested in the fall of 2018 after setting up a Bitcoin ATM. The machine did not accept any major banking cards in order to comply with the ruling, but that didn’t stop the arrests. The case eventually folded but not without much controversy.
Overall it is great to see the second most populous nation in Asia return to the crypto industry fold. Will this added volume see a shift in Bitcoin price? Let us know in the comments below.
