The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday overturned a ban against cryptocurrency traders imposed by the Reserve Bank of India in April 2018.
The RBI had directed banks and other entities under its ambit to suspend all banking relationships with individuals or organisations that dealt with cryptocurrency.
The latest move by the Supreme Court is being lauded by individuals and organisations alike.
“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to lift RBI’s ban on trading in Cryptocurrency. We believe that banning tech is not the solution, a risk-based framework must be developed to regulate and monitor Cryptocurrencies and tokens,” tweeted NASSCOM.
Cryptocurrency, as opposed to central banking systems, uses decentralised control. All confirmed peer-to-peer transactions of the cryptocurrencies are stored in a public ledger called Blockchain, which is a system that keeps an overview of cryptocurrency units and their ownership.
“Overturning the ban imposed by the RBI on the trading of cryptocurrency in India is a historic judgement to encourage innovators and tech behemoths in India to build smart currencies by leveraging blockchain and revving up the digital revolution,” Dr Omkar Rai, Director General Software Technology Parks of India, said.
The SC order revoked the ban on illegal cryptocurrency trade, but it is worth noting that the Indian government has already prepared a draft bill that seeks to prohibit mining, holding, selling, trade, issuance, disposal or use of cryptocurrency in the country.
The Indian government has issued repeated warnings against investing in digital currencies, saying these were like Ponzi schemes that offer unusually high returns to early investors.