Bitcoin ban: Banks to stop trade from today; this is how you can still buy, sell cryptocurrencies

Do you trade in Bitcoins? If yes, you must be looking out for ways to transact in cryptocurrencies as starting today banks will no longer process your crypto transactions. The move comes after Supreme Court earlier this week declined to offer interim relief on an RBI directive which restricted banks to deal in cryptos.  However, the astute investors have already figured out ways to keep trading in cryptocurrencies with decentralised P2P exchanges emerging as alternatives. 

"Although RBI’s decision is very disappointing for crypto traders in India and perceived as yet another setback, there still is a solution available that will help one continue trading of cryptos without having to go through banks, and these are decentralised and P2P exchanges, such as Localbitcoins or NMCCX," said Kumar Gaurav, CEO, Cashaa.

For example, on P2P Exchange, if person A is looking to buy cryptos in exchange of INR and another person B wants to sell his cryptos in exchange of INR, there will be an entity C that will accept cryptos from person B and INR from person A and will finally act as an exchange medium.  This whole process will be monitored regularly to ensure safety, informed Casaa.

The experts believes RBI must consult counterparties like BoE, ECB, Bank of Japan or Bank of England to better understand the technicality of crypto trade. "Finance Minister must regulate the industry comparable to the US, Japan and others, as well as setting up a committee of people who are actually in the industry and not only experts on paper, and work with them going forward to establish a well-regulated system," he said.

Vajahaath Hussain, CEO, Almora believes India should come up with stricter regulations and norms to regulate the cryptocurrencies instead of outright ban.  "Governments and regulators around the globe are regulating cryptocurrencies, and this time it's not just the first world economies. Asia-Pacific (APAC) has emerged as a significant crypto player. Thailand implementing new  regulations is an example of that," he said.

"Given that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are going to be the future of our financial systems, India should become an early adopter of regulations to reap the benefits in time," Hussain added. Meanwhile, bitcoin has crashed over 70 per cent from its life-time high hit on December 2017, and over 800 cryptos have gone out of business, but crypto watchers remain hopeful of its long-term performance. 

"As numerous cryptocurrencies go out of business, it turns out to be the survival of the fittest. Projects and ICOs without a sound product or team should not be able to raise such enormous funds," Hussain said. The expert advised existing investors should not back out, and new ones shouldn't hesitate to explore the market of trustworthy crypto coins. "The market for Bitcoin is predicted to grow as high as $250K, and by investing now, the profit margins that can be booked are considerably massive," he said.  Bitcoins in India have been trading at around Rs 5 lakh each, while investors are parking anything from Rs 3,000 to several lakhs of rupees into cryptocurrencies.