Indians Continue to Invest in Crypto Even As Banks Are Wary

Despite banks blocking payment gateways of crypto exchanges in India under instructions from RBI, there doesn't seem to be a drop in the number of crypto traders, an industry source told The Quint.

Sunil Sable, 28, resident of Pune, and a Bitcoin trader firmly believes that it will be impossible for the Indian government to ban crypto transactions.

"The crypto trading group is well aware that the prices of Bitcoin have been bearish since the news of banks blocking payment gateways surfaced, but this is temporary. The blockchain technology is evolving everyday and it will be impossible for India to block the online currency."

Cryptocurrencies, led by Bitcoin, have been gaining traction and global attention over the past few years, but there has been a significant uptick in Indians investing in crypto over the past few months.

'Don't Want to Miss Out Opportunity'

With increasing advertising on the part of crypto platforms, as well as crypto being much discussed across social media, Indians are keen on pursuing what is touted to be a "potentially great investment opportunity".

Another trader, Ali Ittarwala, told The Quint that "whenever something is out of government's control, they neither like it nor want it."

Explaining why he believes that crypto community will remain strong despite the speculation over a permanent ban, Ali said, "The same thing happened in 2016 when RBI ruled crypto ban in India and asked banks to stop crypto-based transactions, but that order couldn't stay as the apex court lifted the ban stating that the RBI order violated business and professional freedom."

Ali believes that the crypto market will again rise and banks will have to resume payment gateway services of crypto exchanges in India.

Banks have responded by showing a lack of trust in crypto and blocking payment gateways of some crypto exchanges.

"However, this has resulted in people being undeterred by the blocking of gateways and finding alternate methods to invest. This lack of clarity adversely affects both investors and platforms, and only further serves to underline the need for active policy discourse and stakeholder consultation in this space as we move forward," Gautam Kathuria, Policy analyst ,The Dialogue told The Quint.

'Traders Have Only Increased'

While it was anticipated that there might be a significant decrease in the number of crypto traders amid rising concerns of crypto ban in India, crypto exchanges have revealed that the consumer base has only increased.

Sharing his thoughts, Sathvik V, CEO of Unocoin crypto exchange told The Quint that the news of banks blocking payment gateways have not really affected the crypto market. "As a matter of fact, we have been observing a significant increase in the number of traders, as Indians do not want to miss out on the long-term prospects of Bitcoin."

Sourabh Sethi, SoC Design Engineer, at Intel and an active crypto trader said that "large publicly listed companies and billion-dollar hedge funds like Tesla and Micro strategy are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets which have brought a certain sense of credibility to the cryptocurrency."