Ripple CEO swipes at India’s decision to ban cryptocurrencies

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has responded to reports that Asian nation India has renewed efforts to ban cryptocurrency trading.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that the Indian government drafted a new bill that could prohibit crypto trading. This news has caused a bit of stir within the crypto community with several key players speaking against the move.

Garlinghouse weighed in on the news in a tweet and says he’s disappointed with how the Asian nation are disrupting the crypto industry.

Disappointing to see India flip flop on crypto, hamstringing a nascent industry which could serve one of the biggest populations of unbanked/underbanked citizens. https://t.co/ffMUIQOnA7

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 16, 2020

He further added that India has one of the largest number of unbanked populations in the world.

India continues war on cryptocurrencies

India has been averse towards cryptocurrencies for years with the Apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introducing a ban on cryptocurrencies on 2018.

This ban was squashed by the Supreme Court on a landmark ruling on March 4. This was followed by a 450% surge in trading volumes within a few months of the ruling.

The reluctance of the Indian government in supporting cryptocurrencies had baffled many within the financial space. The Asian nation is among the top countries in the world with financial inclusion problems with over 150 million unbanked adults rivaling China.

Cryptocurrency has become a popular avenue by many within the nation to access cross border payments with the country having one of the biggest remittances in the world. Another crypto ban would be counter productive given the vast potentials of cryptocurrencies in the country.

It remains to be seen how this ban will be implemented and there could be new developments in the coming days.