On Offensive: Indian Exchanges Hint "New" Annoucements to Circumvent RBI's Decision

Let us begin this article with a little good news. At the time of this writing the Crypto Prices on Indian Exchanges have come at par with the international average. A Sign that people’s trust in cryptocurrencies have been shaken but not lost.

Earlier today, KoinOK sent an email to their users in response to RBI’s prohibition on Banks from doing business with Crypto Exchanges. The most interesting line from the email is

“Also, in order to reduce our exposure to the banking institutions regulated by RBI, we have several new ideas in pipeline. :)”

Another exchange we reached out to told us “We will be making major announcements this week. RBI will know that whatever they do, we ain’t stopping“. The exchange asked us to not mention them until the announcements are made public.

So what do these exchanges have in Mind?

“These exchanges may soon plan a partnership. Like some sort of co-working model with P2P exchanges“, one of the insider sources told us. A peer to peer exchange allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrency from individuals like yourself. You can buy Crypto by transferring money from your account to the other person’s. The exchange will then release the Bitcoin to you.

If the rumours are to be believed, the traditional open book exchanges can become P2P exchanges themselves. The exchange will then have to only provide a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and the citizens can do that with each other.

Many exchanges can move their base to a country that supports crypto like Singapore or Estonia. This way they do not have to deal with Indian banks to pay salaries to their employees.

Another source closer to a major exchange revealed that few exchanges have to come together to launch a legal offensive against RBI’s decision. The aim of the legal recourse is to first get a stay order on RBI’s decision and then open a dialogue with the authorities for appropriate regulations for the space.

If you want to know more about how the exchanges can build a case against RBI, check out the tweet by a Civil Lawyer Yusuf Rampurawala

#RBICantStopMe pic.twitter.com/D559xwuQUa

— Yusuf Rampurawala (@YusufRampurawa7) April 9, 2018

The people and exchanges in our country have been taken aback by a Draconian mandate put forward by the RBI. Many would argue that RBI is exercising caution while exploring innovation by pitching an introduction of Digital Rupee.

However, a Digital token pegged against the INR, controlled by the central government is no different than the paper money that we hold in our physical wallets. Moreover, it will be a nightmare to increase adoption or even forced adoption when you will see the project failing like Aadhaar.

A very simple question to ask here is, you’ve got bank accounts opened for all the citizens, you’ve got Aadhaar card details and phone numbers linked, you’ve got NCPI’s Bhim and UPI to facilitate transactions, and yet why is the autowala in my neighbourhood only taking cash from me?

Nevertheless, the exchanges are not giving up the fight. If you ask me, I’d suggest the exchanges to keep having Crypto-Crypto pairs for trading and educate the users to buy Bitcoins and Ethereum from P2P exchanges. Sure, the business will take a hit, but perseverance is the key. The RBI will turn around eventually and those who survive now, will thrive then.