India's Supreme Court Pushes Crypto Banking Ban Hearing to September

A Supreme Court decision on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) efforts to bar cryptocurrency firms from receiving banking services will have to wait – for now.

A final hearing on the ban's merits has been deferred to September 11, local news outlet Inc42 reported Friday. The panel of judges overseeing the case want all arguments and submissions from both the RBI and the ban's critics to be submitted by that day. While it is not clear when a decision will be made, Rashmi Deshpande, a lawyer representing Kali Digital, which runs an exchange, said she expects the Supreme Court to "dispose of the case" the same day.

The ban began in April, when the RBI announced that regulated financial institutions would be prohibited from servicing cryptocurrency exchanges and other related businesses. The Supreme Court upheld the ban earlier this month pending Friday's hearing.

Though the scheduled hearing was expected to include all final arguments to the case, the fact that certain organizations, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India, have not submitted their evidence resulted in the delay.

Speaking to Quartz India, Deshpande remained hopeful about the matter, saying:

"Our expectation is that the hearing will be on the basis of merit where we get to present the case on why the RBI circular is unconstitutional and should be quashed."

At the same time, it was reported by the Bar and Bench that a senior advocate representing RBI said in today's hearing that "the policy of RBI is of extreme caution," adding that cryptocurrencies had the potential to encourage illegal transactions.

Waiting room image via Shutterstock