Bitbns is offering to help former Zebpay users a way to migrate their funds following the reported closure of the Indian crypto exchange last week.
Here to Help
Last Friday, Zebpay announced that it was shutting its doors, citing the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on banks, prohibiting them from conducting business with crypto exchanges.
Becoming a leader in India, it’s reported that the exchange was adding 300,000 new users daily in December. However, despite this, hurdles in place have made it difficult for Zebpay to continue offering its trading services. From now on, Zebpay will only offer a wallet service.
In a bid to fill the void, Bitbns is hoping to provide a solution. Launched in late 2017, Bitbns is a crypto exchange based in India.
Following the news from Zebpay, Bitbns announced that it was here to “help Zebpay users migrate their funds” to the exchange. It added that it “understands the plight of hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency holders and traders in this unfortunate hour.”
In an effort to attract the three million users from Zebpay, Bitbns said in a Medium post:
All the fee collected on crypto withdrawals from Zebpay will be waived off by Bitbns for selected tokens. Offer lasts indefinitely.
It remains to be seen what impact Bitbns has on the Indian crypto market and, more importantly, if Zebpay users will move to its platform.
Supreme Court Ruling
Lately, India has had a rocky relationship with cryptocurrency.
The country is slowly embracing a cashless society. However, it doesn’t appear so keen on alternative currencies to fiat. The is noted by the fact that India’s supreme court refused any interim relief to exchanges against the RBI crackdown on them.
In April, RBI issued a circular to banks ordering them to cease all relationships with crypto exchanges and traders. In July, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which represents Bitcoin exchanges, filed a petition against the RBI.
However, the supreme court dealt a blow to the market by upholding the ban. Yet, with the RBI remaining unsympathetic, will others follow in Zebpay’s footsteps? Will Unocoin, another crypto exchange in India, be shutting down too?
Unfortunately, the RBI isn’t likely to change its position any time soon. This, in itself, is unsurprising. After all, banks don’t want to deal with competition, which is essentially what the crypto market is. Just as China has shut the door on cryptocurrency trading, it seems India is following its lead.
Do you think more crypto exchanges in India will cease trading? Let us know in the comments below.
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