India’s top court refused to overturn a central bank ban on lenders from dealing in cryptocurrencies.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said the Reserve Bank of India’s directive prohibiting banks, financial institutions and other regulated institutions from providing any services related to cryptocurrencies will remain implemented. In a circular dated April 6 and effective since then, the regulator gave banks three months to exit operations.
In the legal challenge before India’s Supreme Court, the central bank told the top court that Bitcoins cannot be treated as currency under India’s existing law that mandates coins to be made of metal or exist in physical form and stamped by the government.
In India, the finance ministry has yet to make a final ruling on a formal ban. Investors and technology platform providers for cryptocurrencies are worried as uncertainty looms over future of cryptocurrencies.
