Yet another “crypto ban” turns out to be temporary FUD. In an interview with CNBC this morning, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that reports of a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies are overstated. While negotiations are ongoing, she said she expects the end result to be more tempered: “Yes, a lot of negotiations, discussions are happening, with Reserve Bank,” said Sitharaman. “Obviously the Reserve Bank will be taking a quorum on how, what kind of unofficial currency, cryptocurrency will have to be planned, and how it has to be regulated. But also, we want to make sure that there’s a …

India’s central bank has recognized the potential benefits of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, but not without including a few pitfalls. The Reserve Bank of India offered its assessment of CBDCs as part of its report on currency and finance issued on Sunday. As a part of the report, the RBI noted that several countries are exploring the creation of their own sovereign national digital currency. According to the central bank’s report, CBDCs can help to promote financial inclusion and transactional transparency. The RBI also stated that national digital currencies could be useful as an instrument of monetary transmission …

Indian cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin has adopted the blockchain-based Unstoppable Domains, which simplifies crypto transactions by turning blockchain addresses into human-readable web URLs. Announced on Wednesday, the partnership between Unocoin and Unstoppable Domains — both funded by Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper — is expected to reduce remittance costs and simplify the transaction process for the exchange’s 1.2 million users. Unstoppable Domains turns crypto addresses into decentralized websites on the Ethereum and Zilliqa blockchains. Instead of sending coins to a 42-character blockchain address, Unstoppable Domains allows users to create simple URLs ending in “.crypto” and “.zil” extensions. Domain names need only …

Indian authorities continue to express support for a government-backed digital currency to replace privately-issued cryptocurrencies. According to Bloomberg, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das has expressed the central bank’s determination to create a digital rupee. According to Das, India’s central bank is “very much in the game” and wants to emulate China’s digital currency electronic project, the digital yuan. The RBI chief also revealed that the digital rupee project is a major focus for the central bank. While there has been no official release date for the proposed CBDC, Das said that the RBI is currently finetuning the technological and procedural protocols …

The Indian Crypto community has been involved in discussions with the government about how it should perceive cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology before finding ways to regulate the industry ever since the government placed a now-defunct blanket ban on banks servicing crypto firms in April 2018. In the latest update, on Jan. 29, the government revealed its plans to introduce The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 to the lower house of the parliament (The Lok Sabha) in the upcoming session. As mentioned in the Lok Sabha’s release, the bill would have a two-fold agenda. The first is …

Less than a year after the Indian supreme court overturned the Reserve Bank of India’s ban on crypto businesses, the bank’s position on digital assets is looking slightly more bullish. According to a booklet on payments released today by the RBI, the bank is “exploring the possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat currency.” The bank added that if it found a need, it would look into ways to put digital currency into use. The RBI booklet acknowledged the popularity surrounding cryptocurrencies worldwide but claimed that Indian regulators and local government bodies are …

The people of India are awaiting access to crypto banking services, as British-based fintech firm Cashaa has collaborated with India’s United Multistate Credit Cooperative Society to launch a crypto-centric banking company called Unicas that will initially open 34 branches in Northern India and plans to have expanded to 100 branches by next year. Considering that India is largely a savings-driven economy, Unicas will also offer crypto saving accounts that pay interest on deposited crypto. This could act as a catalyst for co-operative credit societies in India to enter the market and make the most of this opportunity. But overall, the …

News about the Indian Ministry of Finance circulating a “note” for inter-ministerial consultations of cryptocurrency regulations spurred panic within the Indian crypto community. Worries about the 2019 draft bill proposing a blanket ban of cryptocurrencies and possible 10 years sentences for crypto users had kicked in once again. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ashish Singhal, the founder and CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch, said that the chances of the government placing a blanket ban on digital currencies has reduced considerably as compared to 2019. Singhal said that in 2019, when the draft bill was proposed, the possibility of a …

The repeal of a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies in March by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has been a boon to the thriving crypto industry in India — with the launch of new exchanges being a catalyst. This is despite the country being one of the most severely affected nations by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a deepening economic crisis across the nation. For investors and fintech innovators alike, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have proven to be a much-needed respite in these challenging times. Regulatory uncertainty Repealing the blanket ban was not the ultimate solution …

Over the past few months, India’s cryptocurrency market has continued to be in a constant state of flux. From crypto bans imposed by the country’s central bank to a historic ruling by its Supreme Court to lift that ban, for most onlookers it appears that India’s crypto market has experienced a rebirth. A recent industry report put together by exchange OKEx and research platform Coinpaprika indicates that the crypto space in India is set to soar to greater heights, especially because the country leads the globe in terms of remittances, not to mention that it has a national fiat currency …

In a recent response to a Right to Information query, the Reserve Bank of India, the Indian central bank, has stated that there is no prohibition on banks to provide bank accounts to cryptocurrency traders. But some banks have been arbitrarily denying services to crypto users and are still doing so. If there is no law banning crypto trading, as emphasized by India’s Supreme Court, and there is no prohibition on banks by the RBI, then why aren’t banks treating crypto-related activities on par with other legitimate activities? The RBI banking ban on crypto was set aside by the Supreme …

It was early in March when India’s Supreme Court delivered a historic verdict on a landmark case that promised a new era for crypto in India. The Supreme Court moved to lift the Reserve Bank of India’s controversial ban on banks issuing services to crypto-related firms. It seems, however, that not all banks are complying with the new ruling. According to Mohammed Danish, a fintech lawyer, there are reports of several cases where banks have continued to decline crypto-related transactions. “In most of the cases, the banks have not given any written communication but verbally informed their customers that they …