One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, Zebpay have announced that they have locked down all of their exchange services as a result of a banking freeze established by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Cryptocurrency is in limbo in India at the moment, with the RBI currently in a legal battle as a result of them essentially banning cryptocurrency use in the country. As it stand, cryptocurrency investment is still accepted, though not for customers of the RBI, moreover, investors are no longer permitted to exchange crypto for FIAT, therefore only crypto to crypto transactions in India are available.

The full scale of Zebpay is apparent by the exchanges sheer popularity, as it stands Zebpay have around 3 million users across it’s Android and iOS apps, both of which currently support 20 cryptocurrencies with 22 different trading pairs.

According to CCN:

“Zebpay is now stopping all exchange services at 1600 local time on Friday. The move is a direct consequence of a crippling policy introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank, to force all regulated financial institutions – including banks – from offering services to the domestic cryptocurrency industry.”

Furthermore, an official Zebpay announcement regarding the matter reads as follows:

“We are stopping our exchange. At 4 PM today, we will cancel unexecuted orders & credit your coins to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted. The Zebpay wallet will work even after the exchange stops. The curb on bank accounts has crippled our, and our customer’s, ability to transact business meaningfully. At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business.”

This is the direct result of the RBI’s decision to ban cryptocurrency being bought with FIAT currency through traditional bank accounts. Though the ban occured back in April 2018, it’s clear that through Zebpay’s latest decision, this ban is having a huge impact, even on some of the biggest exchanges in the country.

Indeed, with the RBI tied up in legal action, the cryptocurrency community are doing all they can to ensure the RBI’s bans are lifted and that normal service can resume. Even so though, it’s clear the decisions made by the RBI are starting to take casualties. If the RBI’s ban is dissolved, a lot of damage has already been done to cryptocurrency in India and therefore, we have to ask if normal service can ever be resumed after this?

CCN