Financial regulators in India and Pakistan prohibit banks from dealing in cryptocurrency

Pakistan's central bank said on Friday that cryptocurrency is not legal in the country and has banned banks and other financial service providers from servicing clients carrying out cryptocurrency transactions. The regulator said that persons using cryptocurrency to transfer funds outside Pakistan will be held accountable.

Representatives of the Central Bank of India said that companies under its regulation cannot engage in activities related to any virtual currency, and those that already provide such services must cease such activities within three months. Following the release of the Central Bank of India's statement, the price of bitcoin fell to 350,000 rupees ($5,392) compared to its international market price of $6,617. Before this, the price of bitcoin in the local market was 5% higher than the international price, said Vishal Gupta, co-founder of the Committee on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology.

“These measures are too aggressive. Instead of taking a holistic approach and curbing potential fraud, the central bank has decided to simply ban everything,” said technology law expert Namitha Viswanath, principal partner at IndusLaw.

The news has left cryptocurrency investors quite perplexed.

“At least 4 to 5 million people in India own some kind of cryptocurrency, and 60 percent of them entered the market between October and December, when prices were at dive. Most of them have already suffered losses. Now the asset has become completely dead, you cannot use it, otherwise your bank accounts will be closed,” notes Vishal Gupta.

According to https://www.cnbc.com