Zebpay Exchange Dumps India, Packs Bags For Malta

India’s crippling laws on digital currencies and banking has forced emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses to steer clear.

Set Your Watches to Island Time

India has had a rocky relationship with digital currencies and the exchanges that offer them. Zebpay was, at one time one, of India’s largest exchanges, but has been forced to close up shop because of The Reserve Bank Of India’s (RBI) strict stance on financial institutions being allowed to act in cooperation with cryptocurrency exchanges. The Zebpay team is pressing on, however, and have found a new home in the budding ‘Blockchain Island‘ — Malta.

You Say Tomato, We Say To Malta!

It seems that, during this past year, Malta — a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea — has cemented itself as the world’s ‘Cryptocurrency Capital.’ Investors and blockchain developers have flocked to its beaches, due largely in part to the country’s positive and forward-thinking policies on cryptocurrency and digital assets. The new Malta-based Zebpay exchange will do business with 20 countries, none of which are India. In Zebpay’s new global terms of use, it states that the new operation will consist of an Over The Counter (OTC) trading platform for ‘digital tokens and cryptographic currency,’ as well as a Virtual Financial Asset (VFA) trading platform for trading cryptocurrency to fiat and vice-versa.

The Story So Far

India’s quibble with cryptocurrency took a turn earlier this year in April when the RBI released a circular prohibiting dealing in virtual currencies. This forced all banks in India to cease accounts with these exchanges. They were also threatened with penalties for serving customers who transact funds which have been involved in the trading of virtual currencies.

Missing the Boat

2019 seems like it is going to be the ‘year of the institutional investors,’ and it also seems that India may smother itself with regulations and miss the boat on all of the wealth and benefits of getting in at the beginning of an industry that still has so much room to grow. Time will tell whether or not India will change its stance on cryptocurrency to follow the flow with the rest of the world, or will continue to strictly regulate digital assets — perhaps even creating one of its own. What are your thoughts on India’s stance on cryptocurrency and exchanges? Do you think it is likely that India will change its laws if more adoption occurs in other parts of the world? Let us know in the comments below!