The uneasiness shared by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Narendra Modi government has influenced some of the lenders to no longer be comfortable with virtual currencies, leading to issues with deposits and withdrawals.
Exchanges such as Koinex, Coindelta have been complaining that withdrawals between their payment service providers and their bank have been delayed for over two weeks. The management of three other exchanges confirmed they were aware of the brewing trouble, according to Quartz. An email sent to the RBI remained unanswered, the online publication continues.
To discourage investors from betting on these cryptocurrencies, the government has repeatedly said that Bitcoin and its kind are not legal tender in India. A lawyer who works with a few of these exchanges said that “apparently, banks have been asked by the RBI in an informal communication to stay away from dealing with the virtual exchanges”.
Not just in India, governments elsewhere too have been tightening the noose around virtual currencies, triggering a drop in prices.
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