India’s Crypto Bill Hearing Postponed by Supreme Court

The Indian Supreme Court has set a new date to hear the crypto case, which was originally scheduled for July 23. The purpose of the hearing was to address the writ petitions against the central bank’s crypto restriction. On July 24, the court announced a tentative date postponed to Aug 2, however, they later updated it to July 25 for all the crypto writ petitions. 

The Reserve Bank of India issued a circular regarding the banning of regulated financial institutions from providing services to cryptocurrency-related businesses. Since the ban, which was effective since July 2018, banks were obliged to close accounts of all cryptocurrency exchanges in India. Many crypto exchanges including Coindelta, Koinex, and Cryptokart all shut down due to unclear regulations. One of the largest crypto exchanges in India, Zebpay shut down its exchange operations in India. After the ban, stakeholders in the industry filed writ petitions to challenge the ban. The Indian supreme court was scheduled to hear all crypto-related petitions in September 2018 but postponed the hearing repeatedly. 

Subhash Chandra Garg

The draft bill was released to the public this week, by the interministerial committee led by the Chairman Subhash Chandra Garg also known as India’s Secretary of Economic Affairs and finance secretary. This bill has officially been submitted to the government, which also contains the “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019.” The bill specifies, “No person shall mine, generate, hold, sell, deal in, issue, transfer, dispose of or use cryptocurrency in the territory of India.”

Although Indian banks are not allowed to offer their services to cryptocurrency-related businesses, cryptocurrencies are currently not banned in India. The interministerial committee has proposed the ban through the draft bill but will need to take many steps before it becomes law.

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