[2018-09-28] One of India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges is shutting down

[AltEvangelist]

Hamstrung for months by the Indian central bank’s diktat disallowing banks to undertake any cryptocurrency-related transactions, Zebpay said it was shuttering its exchange.

“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customers’, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business,” Zebpay said in a blog post. “As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities.”

https://qz.com/india/1405918/zebpay-a-major-indian-bitcoin-exchange-is-closing/

Link to official tweet: https://twitter.com/zebpay/status/1045568047971352576

P.S. The Zebpay wallet will continue to function even though the exchange will stop operations. So no need to panic withdraw.

Also check the tweet replies. Rival exchanges (Wazirx and Koinex) have seized the opportunity to strut their stuff

[Slow death]

Hamstrung for months by the Indian central bank’s diktat disallowing banks to undertake any cryptocurrency-related transactions, Zebpay said it was shuttering its exchange.

“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customers’, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business,” Zebpay said in a blog post. “As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities.”

Still yesterday, I said that the bitcoin in India was going to the abyss because of its government that shows no sympathy for bitcoin and today I listen to this news that clearly shows that the government of India will not change its decision, I say this because an exchange like Zebpay may have realized that the situation in India will not change so soon. this is very sad

P.S. The Zebpay wallet will continue to function even though the exchange will stop operations. So no need to panic withdraw.

They did very well in keeping the Zebpay wallet

Also check the tweet replies. Rival exchanges (Wazirx and Koinex) have seized the opportunity to strut their stuff

but this will not last very long

[AltEvangelist]

Hamstrung for months by the Indian central bank’s diktat disallowing banks to undertake any cryptocurrency-related transactions, Zebpay said it was shuttering its exchange.

“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customers’, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business,” Zebpay said in a blog post. “As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities.”

Still yesterday, I said that the bitcoin in India was going to the abyss because of its government that shows no sympathy for bitcoin and today I listen to this news that clearly shows that the government of India will not change its decision, I say this because an exchange like Zebpay may have realized that the situation in India will not change so soon. this is very sad

It's true that the govt. till now has had an anti-stance to crypto completely. But the Supreme Court heard petitions on the banking ban on crypto few days back. So a lot of things now hang in the balance on the Supreme Court's decision. If the Court decides in favor of the petitioners, then the ban would have to rolled back. Fingers crossed.

[stompix]

So just 5 months after they were announcing they will do that and the other and they will continue operations, they will launch crypto to crypto pairs and continue without banks, they've closed the shop.

Unfortunately, this shows one thing, without the money coming via bank transfers, there is no volume, no trade and in the end no customers.They were down to 600k from close to 10 mils a day in April probably it would have died on its own in a couple of months.

[coolcoinz]

So just 5 months after they were announcing they will do that and the other and they will continue operations, they will launch crypto to crypto pairs and continue without banks, they've closed the shop.

Unfortunately, this shows one thing, without the money coming via bank transfers, there is no volume, no trade and in the end no customers.They were down to 600k from close to 10 mils a day in April probably it would have died on its own in a couple of months.

Of course, that's how you shut down cryptocurrencies. People who are saying that it's impossible to stop cryptocurrencies should read about this case. If you are unable to trade crypto to fiat pairs you're done as long as there's not enough acceptance to allow you to cash out in products and services.
This is what China did to stop crypto in their country and the same thing is now happening in India. Should we be worried? Probably not because it won't happen in the EU, Japan and many other crypto friendly states, but the possibility remains.

[milewilda]

So just 5 months after they were announcing they will do that and the other and they will continue operations, they will launch crypto to crypto pairs and continue without banks, they've closed the shop.

Unfortunately, this shows one thing, without the money coming via bank transfers, there is no volume, no trade and in the end no customers.They were down to 600k from close to 10 mils a day in April probably it would have died on its own in a couple of months.

Of course, that's how you shut down cryptocurrencies. People who are saying that it's impossible to stop cryptocurrencies should read about this case. If you are unable to trade crypto to fiat pairs you're done as long as there's not enough acceptance to allow you to cash out in products and services.
This is what China did to stop crypto in their country and the same thing is now happening in India. Should we be worried? Probably not because it won't happen in the EU, Japan and many other crypto friendly states, but the possibility remains.

Decisions would really vary on each country but i do completely agree on what you have said about such intentions of government when it comes on blocking crypto into its vicinity.One single ban- where banks arent allowed to transact between crypto-related things will surely give a gradual decline until it dies. Crypto will be over if all banks would really have the same faith but as being said not all countries have the same decisions towards crypto so we are still lucky.

[Rustamm]

So just 5 months after they were announcing they will do that and the other and they will continue operations, they will launch crypto to crypto pairs and continue without banks, they've closed the shop.

Unfortunately, this shows one thing, without the money coming via bank transfers, there is no volume, no trade and in the end no customers.They were down to 600k from close to 10 mils a day in April probably it would have died on its own in a couple of months.

Of course, that's how you shut down cryptocurrencies. People who are saying that it's impossible to stop cryptocurrencies should read about this case. If you are unable to trade crypto to fiat pairs you're done as long as there's not enough acceptance to allow you to cash out in products and services.
This is what China did to stop crypto in their country and the same thing is now happening in India. Should we be worried? Probably not because it won't happen in the EU, Japan and many other crypto friendly states, but the possibility remains.

However, in this case, only the Zebpai exchange is closed. People continue to use crypto currency. However, in general, I agree that if the government takes consistent measures to ban crypto currency, it will make it very difficult or impossible to deal with crypto currency in this country.
However, it seems to me that in India there will be no prohibition of circulation of crypto currency. The government created a special commission to study questions about the crypto currency and it concluded that bitcoin and other crypto currency can be recognized as a means of payment. Therefore, representatives were sent to Japan, Great Britain and Switzerland, that is, to countries friendly to the crypto-currency, to study questions about the introduction of the crypto currency. Therefore, I think that these problems in India are temporary.

[Kakmakr]

A typical example where corrupt governments and Banks work together to eliminate the competition to their power and control. This is why centralized exchanges should resort to other strategies to survive.

The Indian people should follow the example of people in other countries, where governments and Banks tried this nonsense. Go 100% P2P and avoid centralized exchanges, because they can be shutdown. 

We need a global "Bitcoin" Banking Group that supports Bitcoin to give competition to these Banks with these kind of monopolies. 

[veleten]

I hope thats this is an individual case and only one exchange will cease operations in India
so far there is no decision in the case of RBI "against" crypto
the central bank puts pressure on the goverment to de-legalise cryptocurrencies
but you can buy bitcoins in India at foreign exchanges no problem and hopefully, it will stay same regardless of the decision

[Betwrong]

I hope thats this is an individual case and only one exchange will cease operations in India
so far there is no decision in the case of RBI "against" crypto
the central bank puts pressure on the goverment to de-legalise cryptocurrencies
but you can buy bitcoins in India at foreign exchanges no problem and hopefully, it will stay same regardless of the decision

I agree because I just read the following in the latest article on Bitcoinist:

Zebpay’s fight may be lost, but numerous Indian cryptocurrency exchanges continue to work without interruption and seek new solutions (e.g. P2P transactions).

Source: https://bitcoinist.com/indias-crypto-ban-takes-casualties/

Also, I can't understand one thing. If 3 days ago, in September 27, Zebpay twitted the following:

We are stopping our exchange. At 4 PM today, we will cancel unexecuted orders & credit your coins to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted.

why today, three days later, in September 30, their trading volume on Coinmarketcap is not zero but $638,060 USD ? Has something changed since the tweet was published?

[rodskee]

SAD news for the all indian national believes about  the future of bitcoin
Indian governmnet is not give full support for the digital currency as legal tender
indian government aren't totally ban digital cryptocurrency but they warn for the community
using of crypto(bitcoin) is a high risk and bitcoin is scam investment.

[stompix]

This is why centralized exchanges should resort to other strategies to survive.

The Indian people should follow the example of people in other countries, where governments and Banks tried this nonsense. Go 100% P2P and avoid centralized exchanges, because they can be shutdown.  

We need a global "Bitcoin" Banking Group that supports Bitcoin to give competition to these Banks with these kind of monopolies.  

Funny how you talk about the bank monopoly but you don't realize that without banks bitcoin trade is doomed. If the banks would really go to war with cryptos all exchanges would close down in a matter of months. And DEX are no better, you still do things though banks, which is kind of ironic, isn't it?

Btw, care to show a success story from those other countries?

Of course, that's how you shut down cryptocurrencies. People who are saying that it's impossible to stop cryptocurrencies should read about this case. If you are unable to trade crypto to fiat pairs you're done as long as there's not enough acceptance to allow you to cash out in products and services.

There are people who still live in a bubble, they think that cryptos can work alone and that the volume in the exchanges comes from people interested in coins. No, it comes from people interested in profits, people that ump and dump and try to either ride the manipulation wave or start one themselves. Cut the easy way to get deposits in and out and those are going to flee.

Same for the small users. They are not going to start dealing with LB or meet strangers in parking lots to buy and sell coins. Once you can't buy coins with two clicks, each extra steps needed will scare away a quarter of the people still interested in it.

[magneto]

Unfortunately, that's how bitcoin policy is in India right now. Every bank is forced into not co-operating with these exchanges, and these are just the effects that is seen by this restriction.

I really still don't understand why the Indian government has chosen to be so hostile on these bitcoin businesses, especially when they know that people could just as well trade with p2p methods instead of using these exchanges.

I've heard news about a potential appeal against the regulations imposed on these exchanges, but haven't heard anything from that since. Given the Indian's government's willingness to ban these types of things, including the cash crunch, it wouldn't be surprising if these restrictions continue to be in place and more exchanges shut down in the future.

[AltEvangelist]

I've heard news about a potential appeal against the regulations imposed on these exchanges, but haven't heard anything from that since.

Crypto lobbyists, exchanges and enthusiasts have together petitioned to the highest court (the Supreme Court) for repealing the bank ban. The Court heard the last set of appeals last Tuesday. The Reserve Bank has also presented its arguments against crypto to the Court. Judgement on the case is awaited as of this moment.

[vit05]

I hope thats this is an individual case and only one exchange will cease operations in India
so far there is no decision in the case of RBI "against" crypto
the central bank puts pressure on the goverment to de-legalise cryptocurrencies
but you can buy bitcoins in India at foreign exchanges no problem and hopefully, it will stay same regardless of the decision

I agree because I just read the following in the latest article on Bitcoinist:

Zebpay’s fight may be lost, but numerous Indian cryptocurrency exchanges continue to work without interruption and seek new solutions (e.g. P2P transactions).

Source: https://bitcoinist.com/indias-crypto-ban-takes-casualties/

Also, I can't understand one thing. If 3 days ago, in September 27, Zebpay twitted the following:

We are stopping our exchange. At 4 PM today, we will cancel unexecuted orders & credit your coins to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted.

why today, three days later, in September 30, their trading volume on Coinmarketcap is not zero but $638,060 USD ? Has something changed since the tweet was published?

Governments can also make p2p difficult. It is even simpler to close accounts of p2p vendors than an exchange. This is often the case in Brazil and they use the money laundering law to close these accounts.

The big challenge today of Cryptos is to find safe ways to convert fiat-crypto without having legal problems. Maybe more ATMs, and small remunerations, bonus and trade using cryptocurrencies.

[Theb]

Looks like the Central Bank's way of shutting down the cryptocurrency industry indirectly is proving effective as Zebpay will now be shutting down. They allowed their operations but they unreasonably prohibited the banks from doing transactions with them, it is pretty obvious that they don't have any intentions of them surviving in their country I don't know if this is a coordinated attack or not but why is the Supreme Court's verdict taking so long? They should have release a verdict by now yet I don't see any news about it.

[AltEvangelist]

...I don't know if this is a coordinated attack or not but why is the Supreme Court's verdict taking so long?

There's no easy answer to this. But it probably has some relation to 2 other pieces of news:
1. RBI (India's Central Bank) mulling a Central bank digital currency i.e. CBDC (https://cointelegraph.com/news/reserve-bank-of-india-confirms-it-is-looking-into-making-a-central-bank-digital-currency)
2. The Govt. sending teams to Japan and Switzerland to study crypto (https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-sends-officials-to-us-japan-and-switzerland-to-study-cryptocurrency-and-icos)
The Court is probably waiting for expert reports on these studies before reaching a final verdict. Because the appelants (crypto lobbyists, exchanges) have already made their final set of submissions last week itself. So nothing is left from their end.

[veleten]

...I don't know if this is a coordinated attack or not but why is the Supreme Court's verdict taking so long?

There's no easy answer to this. But it probably has some relation to 2 other pieces of news:
1. RBI (India's Central Bank) mulling a Central bank digital currency i.e. CBDC (https://cointelegraph.com/news/reserve-bank-of-india-confirms-it-is-looking-into-making-a-central-bank-digital-currency)
2. The Govt. sending teams to Japan and Switzerland to study crypto (https://cointelegraph.com/news/india-sends-officials-to-us-japan-and-switzerland-to-study-cryptocurrency-and-icos)
The Court is probably waiting for expert reports on these studies before reaching a final verdict. Because the appelants (crypto lobbyists, exchanges) have already made their final set of submissions last week itself. So nothing is left from their end.

this is dragging for far too long, expert studies could have been taken into account without calling for the hearing
and it is the way it should have been done
now it feels like RBI is putting pressure on the court and the court doesn't want to take an action that will definitely hurt their economy
banning crypto exchanges and prohibiting the common folk from dealing in crypto is pointless, there will always be a way
just look at China

[AltEvangelist]

...banning crypto exchanges and prohibiting the common folk from dealing in crypto is pointless, there will always be a way...

For sure! Exchanges have started P2P with escrow services. And it works very well already. Tried that for the first time few days back. Fiat transfer + transfer confirmation + crypto transfer took less than a minute all together. Fiat transfer took the majority of the minute.

[mfyilmaz]

People will find a way to get what they want and if they dont find a solution they dont want it enough I guess. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the future and nobody can stop this... because there is no bigger power on this planet than the people. The government is voted by the people and when the people are not accepting this they will vote for a government that is doing things the way people approve. This will only take time but in the end it will become the way it was meant to....

[AltEvangelist]

This is the official response to anything crypto: https://www.ccn.com/indias-securities-regulator-tight-lipped-on-crypto-regulation-inquiry-reveals/

TLDR: Unsatisfactory and incomplete response from regulator to queries on its research and work so far on crypto, study tours to crypto friendly nations etc.

RTI (Right to Information) Application filed by Blockchain Lawyer (https://twitter.com/Blockchainlaw91): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SLFxZjhf-vwhwXZo__IU6pWt0rPmtUwv/view

Revert by SEBI: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cQh2sCmguHndVG_Vid5Oslgl01MQz9NT/view

SEBI is India's securities market regulator. And they largely reflect the sentiment of the Reserve Bank and the Govt. Looks like the uncertainty wrt official stance on crypto will continue for quite some time. Will try to keep this thread updated with the latest on the Indian situation if and when I find the time.

[veleten]

This is the official response to anything crypto: https://www.ccn.com/indias-securities-regulator-tight-lipped-on-crypto-regulation-inquiry-reveals/

TLDR: Unsatisfactory and incomplete response from regulator to queries on its research and work so far on crypto, study tours to crypto friendly nations etc.

RTI (Right to Information) Application filed by Blockchain Lawyer (https://twitter.com/Blockchainlaw91): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SLFxZjhf-vwhwXZo__IU6pWt0rPmtUwv/view

Revert by SEBI: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cQh2sCmguHndVG_Vid5Oslgl01MQz9NT/view

SEBI is India's securities market regulator. And they largely reflect the sentiment of the Reserve Bank and the Govt. Looks like the uncertainty wrt official stance on crypto will continue for quite some time. Will try to keep this thread updated with the latest on the Indian situation if and when I find the time.

uncertainty is the name of the game in India
in regards to crypto at least, they are sitting on the fence now, since if RBI has its way and the crypto is outlawed completely
it will move the whole  market into shade and it won't stop people from trading
even if they ban domestic exchanges, just look at China, for example
here is ET timeline about RBI vs Bitcoin : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/rbi-bitcoin
you can see how the thing has progressed so far, there were u-turns,deadlines, final decisions etc.
but they have postponed the hearing yet again...
 

[dreamhouse]

Looks stupid to me the Indian government, similar to China, they will soon find themselves be left over way behind in the crypto-currency space.

[AltEvangelist]

... they will soon find themselves be left over way behind in the crypto-currency space.

That is one of my major worries. All this uncertainty and confusion will leave us way behind while the rest of the world progresses on.

...here is ET timeline about RBI vs Bitcoin : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/rbi-bitcoin
you can see how the thing has progressed so far, there were u-turns,deadlines, final decisions etc...

Thanks for the link. That's a scary timeline indeed.

...but they have postponed the hearing yet again...

Yup. Next hearing will be most likely on 22-Oct-18: https://twitter.com/cryptokanoon/status/1050386026475245573

[AltEvangelist]

Update. This just came in: https://www.ccn.com/indian-govt-panel-could-propose-illegalizing-holding-of-unregulated-crypto-assets-report/

While I thought that we could not go further backwards, looks like I underestimated the powers that be. This is heartbreaking to say the least. TBH, I have nothing more to say