INDIA TAKES OFF THE BAN FROM CRYPTOCURRENCY
Highlights
- Supreme Court lifts the ban from using cryptocurrency in India.
- RBI’s circular quashed on grounds of disproportionality.
- Investors say that peer to peer (P2P) companies will see the inflow of capital, similar to foreign countries.
The two-year-old ban, enforced by the RBI on using ‘Cryptocurrency’ in India has been revoked by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 04. A wide number of people commended this decision as a “Historic” verdict. In April 2018, RBI imposed a legal prohibition on cryptocurrency trading and banned every financial institution facilitating Virtual currency-related services. While passing the circular, RBI affirmed that its move was quintessential to forge a protection boundary around the country’s financial system. Moreover, RBI claimed that Bitcoins had no physical form or stamped by the Govt. of India; hence they were not to be recognized as reliable currencies.
However, on March 4, 2020, Justice Rohinton F. Nariman along with Justices Aniruddha Bose and V Ramasubramanian nullified this restriction after the Apex Bank’s memorandum was challenged by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI). IMAI stated that the value of cryptocurrency was more than just currency, It was more of a commodity by nature. The trading body further added that India should take a glimpse beyond their boundaries. Many foreign economies don’t just authorize cryptocurrency trading but have shifted to launching their virtual currencies.
Based on this highly lucrative decision, Investors, crypto founders, and entrepreneurs have asserted that this supreme decision will surely innovate many arenas for a cryptocurrency ecosystem to be established. “Historic day for Crypto in India. We can now innovate. The entire country can participate in the Blockchain revolution,” said Nischal Shetty, founder and chief executive of Bitcoin exchange platform WazirX. Speaking of cryptocurrency entrepreneurship Nitin Sharma, founder of Encrypt Blockchain believes that the funding environment for startups will start getting better as funds no longer have to worry as much about regulatory clarity.
