India’s finance minister says she will go through the Supreme Court’s stance on crypto

• The Supreme Court had earlier canceled a Reserve Bank of India circular that had restricted financial institutions from providing crypto-related services.
• The RBI had previously issued multiple public notices to caution users about the risks associated with digital currencies.

India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she will go through the Supreme Court order permitting banks and financial organizations to provide crypto-related services. On Wednesday, the apex court set aside a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular of 2018 that had restricted financial institutions from providing services to any individual or business dealing in virtual currencies.

At a recent press briefing, the minister said:

I will have to go through the apex court order and then will probably meet you all to see what we want to do or how we look at the judgement.

In 2019, an inter-ministerial committee had suggested banning private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and criminalizing all activities related to virtual currencies. Sitharaman said that the ministry had not taken any decision regarding the panel report. On multiple occasions in the past, the RBI had issued public notices to caution users, holders and traders of virtual currencies regarding various risks associated with virtual currencies.