Zebpay exits India

On September 28, Bitcoin company Zebpay officially closed its cryptocurrency exchange in India. This decision was made due to the inability to obtain banking services from commercial banks and financial institutions that are subject to the central bank's ban.

“The bank account disputes have seriously undermined our ability, as well as the ability of our clients, to conduct profitable business. At this time, we cannot find any compelling reason why we should continue to conduct cryptocurrency business,” Zebpay representatives said.

Over the past few years, Zebpay, being one of the leaders in its field in India, has been actively implementing standards such as know-your-customer (KYC) and also applying all necessary measures to combat money laundering (AML). Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of ZebPay, said in February that he was positive about the government's commitment to limiting the ability to conduct illegal transactions using cryptocurrencies, and that his exchange would take all necessary measures to support regulators' desire for clean and transparent conduct of digital business within its jurisdiction.

At the time, Goenka said:

We welcome this move by the government, and want to fully support it in this matter. We invite the government to cooperate with our team, as we take all necessary measures to detect suspicious transactions and are committed to transfer this information to the authorities.

However, ZebPay still had to be closed, since banks refused to provide any services to the exchanger. The Indian government, in turn, is still postponing regulation of the cryptocurrency market - although it believes that as soon as it begins to effectively regulate the local market, new investors will come to it, and the digital currency market will begin to develop. 

The governments of Malta, Switzerland, Busan, Seoul, Japan and France are trying to establish rules that would attract leading exchangers and blockchain projects to their countries. With local exchanges starting to exit the Indian market, it will be difficult for the country to regain its reputation in the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets.