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Crypto exchanges BTCXIndia and ETHEXIndia have informed their customers via email that they are stopping trading activities, citing the “stress” on their business caused by governmental actions discouraging crypto, local Indian news outlet the Economic Times reported yesterday, Feb. 28.

BTCXIndia and ETHEXIndia’s websites both currently display a message to customers informing them that any deposits received after Jan.1 will automatically be sent back to the investor’s bank account.

According to the email, BTCXIndia was opened in 2014, and the exchange then opened ETHEXIndia opened two years later.

BTCXIndia customers are told they have until March 4, 2018 to withdraw their funds in either Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), or the rupee (INR) before an annual wallet maintenance fee is applied. The exchange’s Ripple/INR trading will be halted on March 5.

Source link
https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-two-crypto-exchanges-halt-trading-blame-discouraging-government-stance

Anyone knows what sort of actions the Indian government has taken that has discouraged BTCXindia exchange from running their business?

In the meantime, it is good they are allowing customers withdraw their funds before they shut down the exchange, at least customers don't get to lose in this situation.

At present the Government is awaiting for the committee report which they had setup few months ago and based on their recommendations about the overall working of this technology and its how it can be regulated etc they will take a decision. But overall the scenarios which has developed through out this period is not being much positive. As govt and other regulatory banking bodies have keep warning the people regarding it.

What I can't understand is why do sites like cointelegraph who are supposed to be supporting Bitcoin spread news like this one.

ETHEXIndia has $15,698 daily trading volume and BTCXIndia isn't even listed on CoinMarketCap. Who cares what have they decided to do and what they have wrote in their email?
This news no doubt has a negative connotation regarding Bitcoin. So why spread it, if it's actually not that important?

The main exchanges in India are Coinsecure, Unocoin and Zebpay, The 2 exchanges mentioned above are marginal ones and their proposed closure didn't even make it to the mainstream media. For all we know, they might be uncompetitive and shutting down as they were unable to make profits. But it is easier to blame everything on the government.

Exactly! It is somehow weird that a crypto website is spreading FUD about bitcoin instead of doing the opposite. If ever the government is really the reason why they are closing the exchanges then it would not be good because there is a risk in the bigger exchanges too. This is what I am afraid of that may happen to our country but so far I am observing that our government is not against it but granting licenses to some crypto-related businesses so this is a good sign.

I don't know if you are from India, but anyway I'm glad that your country is supporting crypto-related businesses. regarding India I've found this fresh article saying that there are15 cryptocurrency exchanges operating successfully in India today. Although they mention BTCXIndia and ETHEXIndia's case in the end of the article it looks like the newsis of a minor importance.

Its not that weird because most of crypto websites right now are majority controlled by entities who has so much interest in the cryptoverse. But lately articles coming from them somewhat contributed to the massive FUD against bitcoin.  As far the news goes, those mentioned exchanges are just minor ones in India and imagine the pressure that Zepbay or Unocoin are getting from the government of India. LOL. I say that this article is complete bullshit to begin with offers nothing. Garbage and total rubbish!!!

It cannot be helped. There are some news websites out there that do not verify first and publish articles in a blast in order to gain popularity and publicity. Whether the news have a negative connotation for Bitcoin is not the concern of the news website because bad publicity is still publicity. Unfortunately, they just contribute to the FUD instead of spreading useful information worthwhile reading to the public.

The thing is that Cointelegraph is not an average site hunting for publicity. Normally their information is accurate and Bitcoin friendly. That's why it's imporatnt to emphasize the stupidity of this particular article because it's not typical for Cointelegraph. It's rare when an article there gets comments like this one "another fake news by some FUDster" which was right under the article in question. It looks like the writer, Molly Jane Zuckerman, is paid by someone to spread FUD about Bitcoin. Look at the other articles she has written.

This is just a guess but I think that cointelegraph.com is only trying to be as impartial as they can. When you are in a position of power, it is easy to play the part of a sensor where news not supportive of your overall agenda is dismissed. To be a credible and reliable media outlet, it is always that media entity's responsibility to bring the news to everyone in its reach, unwanted though the news may be.

With this, I guess there is no other choice left but to submit to authorities. You know, you can only do so much when you are an ordinary citizen. It is your obligation to obey the laws of the land. Hence, with the authorities being clear with their new impositions, I guess you should just abide. To be safe and to secure your investments, I suggest you just withdraw whatever money you have put in.

I have not read quite much about the Indian government's policy on cryptocurrencies but I surmise they are onto developing a new scheme to integrate it into their government. Just that for the time being, they have to put an end to it to exercise maximum control over the situation. They have done the same thing a couple of years back but they buckled down because they knew it was something they needed. It is not as if their economy is really doing well, you know.

This is not about hiding an unwanted news, no one wants that from a reputable news agancy. This is about not spreading the FUD. The news in qustion is not "unwanted" but rather of a minor importance because one of the exchanges, ETHEXIndia, has around $15k daily trading volume and for another, BTCXIndia, it is shown 0.00 BTC volume on Coinmarketcap, where it wasn't even lisred before the news. For comparison, the daily trading volume of Zebpay, one of the India's leading exchanges, is around $4 million. And if exchanges like Zebpay were halting trading, then it would be wrong to hide a news like this. But giving your article a title like "India: Two Crypto Exchanges Halt Trading ..." when no one heard about those exchanges before, is called spreading the FUD imo.

Exactly! And to add to your point if the exchange  not capable of handling the trade or is not getting enough exposure they blame is put on the government. The Indian FUD is been quiet for some time and the last new we heard was a new rules being framed for Crypto trading.

iirc BTCX India was one of the few exchanges I had signed up in the early July 2017 since it was only doing XRP trading which I believe it is still and they never completed my KYC. And with the emergence of Zebpay, Koinex and the big ones no one cared about BTCXIndia. There are ones that shoud be blamed for their shutdown.