In April 2018, RBI issued a circular asking all banks to deal with any virtual currency.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought response from the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India on a plea seeking a direction to the authorities to revoke the ban on the use of the UPI platform in settlement and settlement of funds in cryptocurrency exchange WazirX. .
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notices to SBI, RBI, National Payments Corporation of India and Department of Financial Services asking them to respond to the plea.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on December 24.
Petitioner Arnav Gulati, a law student, said that he, along with several account holders of SBI and registered users of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, are aggrieved by the actions of the authorities which pursuant to their fundamental right to trade under Article 19(1)(g). violate the. and the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
Advocates Siddharth Acharya and Simarjit Singh Satia, representing the petitioner, submitted that the arbitrary action taken by SBI to block the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services for WazirX (major cryptocurrency exchange) users in violation of the Supreme Court judgment A petition has been filed against. March 2020.
The lawyers said that the PIL involves the interests of around 10 million retail investors of the WazirX crypto exchange platform and sought a direction to the authorities to take effective steps and withdraw the decision to prohibit UPI payments in crypto exchanges.
The petition states that in April 2018, the RBI issued a circular to all banks dealing with any virtual currency or facilitating any person or entity to settle or dispose of them, including bitcoin.
Such services include maintenance of accounts, registration, trading, settlement, clearing, lending against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer of funds into accounts relating to the purchase/sale of virtual currencies. Transfer/receipt is included. It said, thereafter, all cryptocurrency related transactions through banking institutions were stopped.
“Later, in March 2020, the Supreme Court passed a final order setting aside the RBI circular and paving the way for banks and their customers to deal in cryptocurrencies. Based on the said order, RBI issued another circular allowing institutions to undertake and facilitate transactions in virtual currencies,” it said.
The petition said that on September 15, SBI had banned the use of the UPI platform for its account holders on the WazirX cryptocurrency exchange, which has now been challenged.
It sought a direction to the RBI to regulate and regulate the cryptocurrency sector and thereby provide for payment interfaces and decisions.
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