[2020-03-04] Supreme Court terms Crypto Ban by Central bank unconstitutional

[amishmanish]

Amid the bull run of late 2017-2018, crypto enthusiasts in india had to face the unsavory circular from the Reserve Bank of India putting a ban on all public and private banks from providing banking services to any entity dealing in crypto. This has lead to several upcoming bitcoin exchanges an startups to abruptly shut shop.

This also lead to an environment of fear and distrust of anything crypto among the general public. Now all those early hodlers can hopefully come out. The road is still long as the next issue to be taken up is the ban on import of mining hardware by Indian customs. There is also the Ministry of Finance which may come up with its version of money-laundering and terrorism financing stories.

The one thing still in favor is that most major business houses are in favor of setting up a conducive environment for the entrepreneurs and developers. Still a long way to go but this is a major victory to be celebrated.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/sc-allows-trade-in-cryptocurrency-quashes-rbi-curb-on-use/articleshow/74470078.cms

[Stedsm]

That's something I'd consider to be the best news of the decade itself as it is now the time when I can say that I'm free, I'm a part of a democratic country and that I can use my freedom in the right manner. This shows that Patience conquers everything in the end and that the fruit riped through it, is sweet. We are now literally in a phase where our 1.5 billion Indians are yet to learn about BTC and this all-new asset class (new to those who are completely unaware about it) which opens a chance for both scams (by giving false knowledge and/or coming up with HYIP programs) and opportunities for us to stop people from getting scammed and educate them about Bitcoins as well as important parts of the crypto sphere.

[amishmanish]

For sure we will witness a resurgence in the scam projects and scam offers. This is the moment i guess we have all been waiting fro Stedsm. We'l be proactive in calling out the scammers when we see them.

Its definitely and uplifting news and removed the FUD surrounding crypto transcations to a large extent. Congrats to us..

[squatter]

Exchanges are now off to the races in an effort to tap the Indian market again. Not even six hours after the Supreme Court ruling, CoinDCX listed Indian rupee markets and integrated bank account transfers. They see this moment as a major turning point for cryptocurrency adoption in India:

In a statement, CoinDCX co-founder and Chief Executive Sumit Gupta said the court verdict would likely be the catalyst for a "transformation" in the Indian cryptocurrency industry.

A banking integration was the exchange's "first priority" now that Indian citizens could once again invest in digital assets, Gupta said.

"With renewed accessibility and convenience in purchasing cryptocurrencies, we believe that this change will have a dramatic effect in accelerating crypto adoption in India," Gupta said.

I noticed that ZebPay has also now relaunched their Indian platform.

From another article:

With the court delivering its verdict on the landmark RBI case, the legal and regulatory climate for cryptocurrencies in India now appears to face one last hurdle. In fall 2019, the Indian government opted to delay the introduction of a draft bill on a potential cryptocurrency ban to parliament in the 2019 winter session.

The bill — entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currencies” — reportedly aimed not only to impose a complete ban on the use of crypto in India but also to establish the foundations for a state-backed “Digital Rupee” issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

Is this bill still a threat? I haven't seen any discussion of it since last year.

[bbc.reporter]

I reckon their supreme court knew the laws that the Indian central bank wanted the ban to be founded on might begin a terrible precedent on other networks for internet communication and message passing.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4742229.msg42821266#msg42821266

[Betwrong]

That's something I'd consider to be the best news of the decade itself as it is now the time when I can say that I'm free, I'm a part of a democratic country and that I can use my freedom in the right manner. This shows that Patience conquers everything in the end and that the fruit riped through it, is sweet. We are now literally in a phase where our 1.5 billion Indians are yet to learn about BTC and this all-new asset class (new to those who are completely unaware about it) which opens a chance for both scams (by giving false knowledge and/or coming up with HYIP programs) and opportunities for us to stop people from getting scammed and educate them about Bitcoins as well as important parts of the crypto sphere.

Congrats! This is indeed a major step forward for your country, and, also, it is a great news for all crypto community. We are still yet to see the full fruits of it, but I'm sure the ban's lifting will have a positive impact on the market overall.

And, yes, various fraudulent schemes will start growing like mushrooms now, no doubt about that, and it's very important to make people ignore them, lest we see another ban before fully enjoying the consequences of lifting this one.

[Kemarit]

Right, just hours after the news of India Supreme court on the decision, WRX, native token of Indian cryptocurrency WaRix is currently being pump right now. But we wanted to see the effect of the news to the whole crypto market, specially Bitcoin and not just on Indian based crypto exchanges.

So we will have to see what's going to happen in the next couple of days. Everyone is celebrating, not just our Indian crypto enthusiast, but those who support crypto globally.

[hatshepsut93]

Right, just hours after the news of India Supreme court on the decision, WRX, native token of Indian cryptocurrency WaRix is currently being pump right now. But we wanted to see the effect of the news to the whole crypto market, specially Bitcoin and not just on Indian based crypto exchanges.

So we will have to see what's going to happen in the next couple of days. Everyone is celebrating, not just our Indian crypto enthusiast, but those who support crypto globally.

There won't be any big effect on Bitcoin, if there could be one, it would have happened already, or maybe even before the news went public, because serious traders get their news before the press. I don't think there's any reason for a big pump of Bitcoin, India was always small in terms of adoption, mining, node count, etc.

[figmentofmyass]

There won't be any big effect on Bitcoin, if there could be one, it would have happened already, or maybe even before the news went public, because serious traders get their news before the press.

there's 2 separate things going on---the "news event" and the actual fundamental effects on adoption that may be felt over months and years. day traders are not the beginning and end of this story.

look at the popularity of centralized exchanges like coinbase. as much as we hate them, they are the gateway to mainstream adoption. this is what prospective indian investors have been seeing at every centralized exchange for the last two years. i have no doubt it had a very chilling effect on adoption:

I don't think there's any reason for a big pump of Bitcoin, India was always small in terms of adoption, mining, node count, etc.

that's a good thing. it means there is a gigantic market of 1.4 billion potential adopters that has barely been tapped yet! they were barred from investing easily during the last bear market. now, in a young bull market, the floodgates have been opened.

[Baofeng]

Right, just hours after the news of India Supreme court on the decision, WRX, native token of Indian cryptocurrency WaRix is currently being pump right now. But we wanted to see the effect of the news to the whole crypto market, specially Bitcoin and not just on Indian based crypto exchanges.

So we will have to see what's going to happen in the next couple of days. Everyone is celebrating, not just our Indian crypto enthusiast, but those who support crypto globally.

There won't be any big effect on Bitcoin, if there could be one, it would have happened already, or maybe even before the news went public, because serious traders get their news before the press. I don't think there's any reason for a big pump of Bitcoin, India was always small in terms of adoption, mining, node count, etc.

Right, at the moment we haven't seen the effect, however, there are the possibilities that the untapped market is just slowly watching at the sideline and ready to invest or they might be waiting for the halving in May to make their move, so we will have to see. We can't discount the possibility that since the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of crypto already, this news will spread across the 1 billion people and could usher in new sets of crypto investors, just imagine that.

[figmentofmyass]

Right, at the moment we haven't seen the effect, however, there are the possibilities that the untapped market is just slowly watching at the sideline and ready to invest or they might be waiting for the halving in May to make their move, so we will have to see.

the fundamental effects will be long term. it's a similar phenomenon to bakkt futures launching, which everyone saw as a pump and dump event. the real fundamental importance is not what happens when traders react to these events. it's about the infrastructure being built.

bakkt futures may not have mattered in 2019, but during the next bubble when institutional investors may be flooding into the market, bakkt could have a massive influence on prices due to institutional demand + arbitrage.

indian investors now being able to link their bank accounts to bitcoin exchanges is fundamentally important in the same way.

We can't discount the possibility that since the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of crypto already, this news will spread across the 1 billion people and could usher in new sets of crypto investors, just imagine that.

it won't make a difference to price today, but being restricted to OTC only was a big deterrent to investment before that has now been removed. similar to institutional demand, i expect indian investor demand to play an important role in the next exponential wave of adoption.

[Vishnu.Reang]

This is the second time that the supreme court is quashing regressive measures by the government. Earlier, the government tried to make national ID card mandatory for the purchase of mobile SIM cards. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional, as it infringes the privacy of the individual. That said, it needs to be seen whether the cryptocurrency users will continue to face harassment from the authorities, or the situation will become better.

[pixie85]

With banks trying to fight the rulling the future of cryptocurrencies in India isn't written in stone. They can still reverse it and keep it banned. We all know how persuasive rich people can be. If they manage to buy some judges it's going to be easy.

[bbc.reporter]

Right, just hours after the news of India Supreme court on the decision, WRX, native token of Indian cryptocurrency WaRix is currently being pump right now. But we wanted to see the effect of the news to the whole crypto market, specially Bitcoin and not just on Indian based crypto exchanges.

So we will have to see what's going to happen in the next couple of days. Everyone is celebrating, not just our Indian crypto enthusiast, but those who support crypto globally.

There won't be any big effect on Bitcoin, if there could be one, it would have happened already, or maybe even before the news went public, because serious traders get their news before the press. I don't think there's any reason for a big pump of Bitcoin, India was always small in terms of adoption, mining, node count, etc.

Agreed! We are always the last to know why bitcoin has pumped after it was pumped hehehe. Also, the wealthiest bitcoin whales that can influence the price are located in America and China.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I can see that many of the local Bitcoin exchanges have come online, after the ruling by the Supreme Court. But I don't expect the Finance Ministry to remain as onlookers. They may try to finalize some legislation, which makes it difficult for these exchanges to operate within India. The current Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) is considered to be hostile to Bitcoin, and even her predecessor (Arun Jaitley) held the same views

[hv_]

I can see that many of the local Bitcoin exchanges have come online, after the ruling by the Supreme Court. But I don't expect the Finance Ministry to remain as onlookers. They may try to finalize some legislation, which makes it difficult for these exchanges to operate within India. The current Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) is considered to be hostile to Bitcoin, and even her predecessor (Arun Jaitley) held the same views

again, all this will depend on HOW it will be used - just for money launderey, crime, capital runnaway - the show stops sooner

don t do shit with bitcoin - it is transparent af - crime ll be caught !

[Stedsm]

For all of us celebrating this win, we should calm down and see the new fact about RBI who is planning to take on the Court by challenging the decision given through them about cryptocurrencies' stance in India.

https://btcmanager.com/india-rbi-set-to-challenge-supreme-courts-crypto-verdict/

[figmentofmyass]

For all of us celebrating this win, we should calm down and see the new fact about RBI who is planning to take on the Court by challenging the decision given through them about cryptocurrencies' stance in India.

https://btcmanager.com/india-rbi-set-to-challenge-supreme-courts-crypto-verdict/

this looks like a desperate last ditch effort by the central bank. the supreme court took 2 years to quash the RBI ban. i doubt they'll reverse that decision so easily!

this twitter thread outlines what the RBI's planned petition means legally. emphasis mine:

@EconomicTimes today reported that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to file a review against the Judgment which set aside banking ban from #Crypto. What is 'Review'?

It is a judicial re-examination of the case.

It is filed before the same bench of judges.

No oral arguments are heard unless ordered by the Court. Review is decided by way of circulation of Application to the Judges who passed the judgment.

Only those judgements warrant review which have inadvertent errors apparent on the face of record.

It is required to be filed within 30 days from the date of judgment.

It is governed by Article 137 of the Constitution and Order 40 of Supreme Court Rules.

Review petitions are allowed very rarely. In most of the cases they are dismissed.

The concerned case has been brilliantly argued by Mr. Ashim Sood and Mr. Nakul Dewan. Similarly the Hon'ble judges have brilliantly written the Judgement which runs into 180 pages. It would be interesting to see what error apparent RBI can find in the Judgement.

We believe that this Review Application would be dismissed, if RBI chooses to file it.