The Reserve bank of India today in a Press Release demanded the agencies that are regulated by them to stop catering to businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies. This means no banks, payment gateways, mobile wallets can cater to Crypto currency exchanges such as Koinex, Zebpay, Pocketbits, etc
We will update the official responses from the exchanges to this announcement here:
Contents
Pocketbits:
One of India’s few closed Orderbook exchange Pocketsbits was the first to respond to this new development. They clarified that currently they businesses have 3 months to cease service. Pocketbits CEO Sohail Merchant is positive for a resolution soon.
2. WazirX
WazirX, the new exchange was quick to respond to the situation as well. WazirX released their response on a blogpost.
The exchange has the community to come together and be part of the revolution called Blockchain/Cryptocurrency. Here’s part of the response from WazirX.
3. Bitbns
Besides responding to the RBI’s press release, Bitbns also started an online petition. BitBns in the post shared the disappointment for the Government’s measure to curb innovation and growth and also showed optimism to overcome the situation and bring a resolution. With an example of Brain Drains of the likes of Sundar Pichai, Bitbns hit where it hurts. We have to wait and see if the Government will take any action on this.
4. Zebpay
Zebpay sent an email to all their users. The only exchange so far that warned their users about the disruption in services.
5. KoinOK
KoinOK sent out emails to their users early morning on 9th April. The Exchange is hinting at newer developments that would allow the Indian community to keep trading despite the RBI’s prohibition. Here’s the full statement:
6. Coindelta
Coindelta released a statement on their blog today, once again, they claim the same thing as many other exchanges.
- Funds are safe
- No changes as of yet
- RBI has given 3 months to Bank to cease relationship, the banks have not taken any action yet
- Coindelta will keep their users informed.
7. Koinex
Koinex’s CEO Rahul Raj posted on their official blog Koinex Crunch, what seems to be a future plan for the exchange. Rahul goes to share that Cryptocurrencies are not illegal and that they have been given sufficient time to ‘honour’ all transactions before closing the relationship with the banks.
The situation is very hazy as of now, since there are numerous legal and industry facets that one can administer, and we, as a unified ‘crypto-industry’ are steadfast to resolve this predicament. The crypto-market globally has also faced innumerable challenges and governing roadblocks, but remained unfazed and has grown in stature, value and set pace to the transformational story of digital currency in the whole ecosystem. So we hope that this knee-jerk action from the RBI is also just another hiccup in our transformational story and it will not hinder our aim to make India, the hotbed of blockchain technology.
Rahul assures the users a safety of their funds and that they are working on a dialogue with the government bodies to ensure the regulation of the industry and not blocking it outright.
we are reaching out to the industry stalwarts across all departments for advice and support and will make a concerted effort to sail our way through this storm.
Safe to say that RBI’s decision has taken everyone in the community aback and the challenging times have only begun. We hope for a speedy resolution.
8. Coinome
Coinome responded today with an email to their users. It is business as usual for Coinome.
9. Instashift
This peer to peer exchange seems to have grabbed the opportunity. Instashift’s not-so official response on their telegram channel also mentions a lucrative offers for the traders.
Hey guys our crypto exchange service InstaShift.io is unaffected by the the RBI full stop on crypto banks and we will continue to support crypto fans in India. Do not worry! InstaShift.io is a peer to peer crypto exchange and escrow service that lets users buy/sell crypto while they send fiat currency to each other. We as a platform doesn’t handle fiat. So we are completely unaffected by what the banks do.
As a special gesture, we are giving Rs. 500/- extra worth of Bitcoins on your transaction worth 30,000 INR and above to the first 5000 users. We will credit this to your wallet and you can withdraw or sell the reward Bitcoins anytime after 30 days.
10. Coinslab
Coinslab is a Closed Orderbook exchange in India. The exchange sent a notification to the users earlier today. Coinslab will stop its BTC/INR exchange on 30th April 2018. They have already shut down INR deposits and will close INR withdrawals on 30th April 2018.
11. Unocoin
Unocoin, one of India’s oldest exchange released a statement. They acknowledged RBI’s 3 month deadline but assured users that their funds are safe and it is business as usual. The below announcement was made by CEO of Unocoin Sathvik V.
12. BuyUCoin
BuyUCoin instilled hope in their users and flipped at RBI with the point 5 “There are still multiple ways and we will continue to ensure that the trading of cryptocurrency will remain active without the involvement of Centralised banks”.
13. CoinDCX
Although CoinDCX only began operating on 7th April, they did release a statement on their stance over the RBI press release and circular. The exchange offers crypto-crypto trading pairs hence technically remains unaffected as far as trading goes. But if banks do not let them open accounts, how will they pay their employees?
The medium post notes that they are very much against the RBI decision and urges the community to come together.
What we urge you to do
This is certainly a time to halt and think about the future of India. It’s natural to be worried about your hard earned money being lost in this political warfare. But we request you all to come together and find a way to not let India fall into this pit. We all agree that we could find better solutions to stop scams than entirely curbing the growth of an industry.
We believe that if we all stand together as one and our intentions are pure, we could let the ones in power understand the real power of this crypto-community.
14. Coinsecure
Business as usual, the literal phrase used by CoinSecure!!!
We will update this article as and when we receive updates from other exchanges.
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