RBI says crypto not banned, but don’t bank on it, Technology News, ETtech

The Reserve Bank of India has said it had not banned cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin in India, but only ringfenced regulated entities like banks from risks associated with trading of such virtual instruments.

The central bank said this in a response to a petition filed by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which wanted it to reconsider a 2018 circular directing regulated entities not to deal in cryptocurrencies.

The IAMAI, whose members include cryptocurrency exchanges, had approached the Supreme Court against the RBI action. In a hearing earlier this month, the association argued that trading in cryptocurrencies, in the absence of a law banning those, was a legitimate business activity but the RBI had effectively banned it by blocking access to banking channels. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

ET has seen a copy of a 30-page affidavit that the RBI had filed in the SC on September 4.

“Firstly, the RBI has not…