Christopher ZeniosThe case was due to resume hearing on the 15 October set to be “top of the board”. Despite this, the case has since dropped down on the list with news portal Crypto Kanoon stating that “The court could not hear the case.”
Adding:
Upon hearing the counsel the Court made the following order … List on Tuesday, the 19th November 2019 as the first item, subject to overnight part-heard, if any.
The hearing is required and will go ahead in November as earlier in the year the central bank issued a circular banning all financial institutions from any involvement or development of services for crypto businesses. The list of prohibited items includes:
Maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer/receipt of money in accounts relating to purchase/ sale of VCs [virtual currencies], the RBI explained.
Following this ban, the bank acted and closed the accounts of crypto exchanges, with many challenging the ban.
Due to the challenge, the supreme court began to hear the case on August the 8th. The case has brought into question the bank’s decision and overall authority and power over crypto. This ban has also had a knock-on effect for police as seized cryptocurrency can no longer be exchanged for cash.
Alongside this, the Indian government is still in the process of contemplating a draft bill submitted by the interministerial committee (IMC). The bill is designed to ban all cryptocurrencies and only allow for state-issued crypto. The crypto community in India has not reacted well to this and believes that the bill is flawed with many campaigning to persuade the government to order the IMC to amend the proposed bill.
