The banking ban by India’s central bank is set to begin on July 5. One of the largest crypto exchanges in the country, Unocoin, is working on banking alternatives. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with the exchange’s CEO about what to expect when the ban begins, trader sentiment, and possible ways to bypass the ban.
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RBI Ban Impending
The crypto banking ban mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to take effect on July 5, according to the central bank’s circular issued on April 6. There are five known petitions against the ban that the Supreme Court will hear on July 20, with one exception. The petition by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) will be heard on July 3.
One of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Unocoin, is a member of IAMAI, as are some other major crypto exchanges including Zebpay and Coinsecure.
Speaking with news.Bitcoin.com on Saturday, Unocoin’s CEO and co-founder, Sathvik Vishwanath, explained that the sentiment among Indian traders “is quite weaker than before.” He elaborated that banks would not support crypto exchanges’ customers “to send and receive INR as it would still violate the RBI policy which not only restricts entities but also individuals.” The CEO added:
All customers are expecting the exchanges to figure out the alternatives. Long term investors have not lost hopes…From the effective date [RBI’s ban], the businesses will have tough time till the alternative methods have been figured out.
The Bangalore-based crypto exchange, with about 370,000 unique users, recently launched a crypto-to-crypto trading platform called Unodax.
Several other crypto exchanges in India have similarly launched all-crypto platforms, including Zebpay and Koinex, with the
