Indian Crypto Exchange Zebpay Halts Rupee Deposits, Withdrawals

Zebpay suspends withdrawal and deposits in Indian rupee in response to the central bank’s crackdown on cryptocurrency transactions.

Zebpay, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with around 3 million users, is disabling its Indian rupee withdrawal and deposit options in light of the central bank’s banking curbs which come into force on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular on April 5 to all regulated financial institutions including banks, prohibiting them from providing services to companies in the cryptocurrency sector. The RBI enforced a three-month deadline for banks to follow the mandate.

Despite several legal attempts to challenge the crackdown, the decision received validation from the Supreme Court on Tuesday. While the three-judge bench agreed to hear a petition against the ban on July 20, its latest ruling means that the July 5 deadline still holds.

In anticipation of this development, Zebpay warned its customers last month that fiat withdrawals may stop in the near future, adding that current events were “beyond its control”.

In a Wednesday update to the original warning, Zebpay said: “INR deposits and withdrawals have been paused in the Zebpay app until banks allow us again.” The exchange noted other operations including coin/token deposits and withdrawals, as well as crypto-rupee and crypto-crypto pair trading remain active.

Zebpay seems to have been preparing for the looming ban, launching crypto-to-crypto trading after the RBI directive in April. Previously, the exchange only offered trading against the Indian Rupee. Currently, Zebpay supports 19 cryptocurrencies and 35 crypto-to-crypto trading pairs.

According to CoinMarketCap data, Zebpay’s trading volume stood at $5.6 million over the past 24 hours. How the fiat trading halt will affect the exchange’s trading volume remains to be seen.