Now trade with Cryptocurrency: Supreme Court Lifts RBI Ban

Today, the Supreme Court allowed dealing in cryptocurrency, lifting the ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on trading in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. The ban lift came as a great relief to the sector, as it was restricting lenders from facilitating banking transactions for cryptocurrency exchanges and traders.

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and was down 0.39 per cent at $8,815. The market cap of the currency stood at $161 billion.

On April 2018, the Reserve Bank of India had virtually banned cryptocurrency trading in India. The April 6 circular was later challenged in the top court.

According to the ET report, the Internet and Mobile Association of India, representing various cryptocurrency exchanges, had argued that trading in cryptocurrencies in the absence of a law banning those was a “legitimate” business activity under the Constitution. The RBI could not have denied them access to banking channels to carry on such business.

The central bank defended in the Supreme Court its 2018 circular insisting that it had always been consistent in its opposition to allowing any other payment systems and undermining the integrity of the banking system.

It argued that though there was no formal ban on cryptocurrencies under any law in existence in India, it had consistently been warning all those dealing with virtual currencies of the risks inherent in them.