Crypto Exchanges Are Already Adapting to India's Bank Account Ban

As the Indian Supreme Court declined to end a circular issued by the country's central bank that bars crypto exchanges from working with banks, trading platforms are taking varied actions ahead of the next court hearing set for July 20.

Zebpay, the largest crypto exchange in India by trading volume, said in a Tweet on Wednesday it had paused the Indian rupee deposit and withdrawal services until banks allow it again following the Supreme Court's decision earlier this week.

As previously reported by CoinDesk, the Supreme Court held a hearing on Tuesday and said the Reserve Bank of India's circular issued in April will "Remain implemented," which prohibits banks from facilitating fiat transactions on Indian crypto exchanges.

In a similar move, several exchanges in India with relatively smaller volume also announced they would suspend fiat currency deposit and withdrawal services for now, such as Coinome and Pexo.

Other exchanges appear to be not deterred and said they will continue allowing investors to deposit and withdraw fiat currency even if the RBI's circular indicated July 5 as the deadline for bank account closure.

BitBNS, an exchange with over $1.4 million 24-hour trading volume on CoinMarketCap, confirmed on Twitter on Tuesday it will continue the service for depositing and withdrawing Indian rupee after July 5.

On the other hand, shifting to over-the-counter trading has also become one strategy that several Indian exchanges are taking to circumvent the RBI's bank account curb.

KoinEX, an exchange with around $1.5 million 24-hour trading volume according to CoinMarketCap, has collaborated with another platform called WazirX to launched a peer-to-peer trading service dubbed KoinLoop, based on a local news report on Tuesday.

The service is seen as a way to cut the exchange's direct ties with banks so that investors can buy or sell cryptocurrency assets in a peer-to-peer manner.

"If banking is something the exchanges are not allowed to do, then the solution is something that direct banking doesn't come in," WazirX's chief executive Nischal Shetty was quoted as saying.