Investing.com – Cryptocurrency prices gained on Wednesday in Asia, despite news that India’s central bank is pausing plans to launch a digital currency.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) changed plans to debut a digital currency after tightening controls on cryptocurrency exchanges, Hindu Business Line reported on Tuesday.

“The government doesn’t want the digital currency anymore. It thinks it is too early to even think about a digital currency,” Hindu Business Line quoted an anonymous source as saying.

Despite the negative news, Bitcoin rose 2.55% to $3,796.4, and Ethereum climbed 5.78% to $139.78 at 11:15PM ET (04:15 GMT). XRP climbed 3.04% to $0.36075 and Litecoin jumped 5.48% to $31.576.

The news out of India was exacerbated by reports that Iran is also clamping down on cryptocurrencies. The Tehran Times reported that the government had said any cooperation with the Telegram messaging app to launch its cryptocurrency Gram in Iran would be considered an act against national security and a disruption to the national economy.

“One of the most important factors in banning Telegram was a sense of serious economic threat from its activities, which was unfortunately marginalized and neglected due to the fuss in the political atmosphere of the country,” the Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Task Force Javad Javidnia said.

Elsewhere, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE (NYSE:ICE)) announced a new update to the launch timeline for Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Futures Contract. The launch had been previously set for Jan. 24 but now “will be amended pursuant to the CFTC’s process and timeline.”

In the U.S., cryptocurrency sceptic Senator Elizabeth Warren entered the 2020 presidential race on Monday. Warren has not been wary of cryptocurrencies. In October, she warned the Senate Banking Committee that cryptocurrencies are easy to steal and that many small investors have been scammed by initial coin offerings, Forbes reported.

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