In the month of May, a Bitcoin Enthusiast and a Lawyer, Yusuf Rampurwa filed for a Right to Information [RTI] form against Reserve Bank of India [RBI]. The RTI was filed seeking for information regarding the representatives responsible for submitting the report on virtual currencies, report submitted by them [representatives] to the RBI or the government and details of any representation [or reference] made which helped in the formation of the inter-disciplinary committee.

The response from the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs states that the inter-disciplinary committee was chaired by the Special Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and had the representatives from the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Financial Servies, Department of Revenue [CBDT], the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, RBI, State Bank of India [SBI] and NITI Aayog.

Moreover, the information provided by the Department of Economic Affairs stated:

“The Report of the Committee contains policy issues of strategic importance and relevant policy is currently under formulation stage.”

The records regarding the information referred to for creating the policy is available in the records. The disciplinary committee consulted the National Institution of Public Finance and Policy and Vidhi, Centre of Legal Policy.

The Reserve Bank of India [RBI] sent across a circulation in the month of April. The circulation stated that all the banks in association with the Central Bank would cease providing services to individuals and business dealing with virtual currencies including Bitcoin. The RBI stated that the reason behind this was because virtual currencies possess a lot of risks. The bank had given all the companies a duration of 3 months to cease their practices associated with virtual currencies.

The circulation led to a huge uproar in the Indian cryptocurrency community with the majority claiming that the rule was set across without the bank doing a proper research on the cryptocurrency market. This led to many companies taking the bank to the Supreme Court and a lot of people applying for an RTI.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] Supreme Court hearing was held on 3rd July 2018. The Supreme Court denied the temporary stay on the ban of cryptocurrencies and the judgment had no positive outcome for the Indian cryptocurrency community. Moreover, the next decision which was held on 20th July 2018 regarding the ban also led to the stay on the cryptocurrency ban.

Jason A. Williams, a Twitterati said:

“This decision puts India at a tremendous strategic disadvantage regarding innovation around the blockchain. India trashed Rupee notes to expose corruption. They banned crypto to control the people.”

The second adverse response from the Supreme Court was an unexpected judgment for the community. The judgment even led many well-known people in the cryptocurrency space to speak up against the act. Even John McAfee, the Founder of McAfee Antivirus called out for a boycott for all the banks working alongside the Reserve Bank of India.

Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has not made the final decision regarding the country’s stance on cryptocurrencies. The final hearing of the case is going to be held on 11th September 2018 but until then, cryptocurrencies will be banned in India.

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