Hi Steemians
It is a sad day for Indian Cryptocurrency enthusiasts as Zebpay, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges is shutting down thanks to Reserve Bank of India's "Banking Ban". If you are an Indian and you are a cryptocurrency investor, then you know how serious this news is.
It was in the year 2015 when Zebpay laid its foundation. It was one of India's first cryptocurrency exchanges which addressed the need of Indian investors’ early interest in cryptocurrency investments. The exchange became quite popular and reported an annual turnover of $80 million in less than two years of its existence. At its peak last year, the exchange added 300,000 to 400,000 users every month.
In their latest blog post, this is what Zebpay announced
“The curb on bank accounts have 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. As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities.”
Reserve bank of India has literally crippled the Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem. All the banks have been given clear instruction by RBI in April 2018 to take action against bitcoin exchanges and INDIVIDUALS who are using banks to buy and sell BTC. Since then, many small BTC exchanges had to shut down their business. The remaining Cryptocurrency Exchanges have filed a case against RBI, GOI, and CBI. The verdict of this case is facing multiple delays at the moment.