Zebpay, a major Indian bitcoin exchange, is closing — Quartz India

Zebpay, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is shutting shop.

Hamstrung for months by the Indian central bank’s diktat disallowing banks to undertake any cryptocurrency-related transactions, the company said it was shuttering its exchange.

“The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customers’, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business,” Zebpay said in a blog post. “As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities.”

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been unsympathetic to virtual currencies (VCs) for years, a stance that hardened shortly after a price boom in late 2017 piqued investor interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Then, in April 2018, the central bank cracked down on the ecosystem, asking lenders to “not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs.”

Facing a…