Indian bank Kotak opened an account for the WazirX cryptocurrency exchange

Private Indian bank Kotak is partnering with cryptocurrency exchange WazirX amid a revision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bill on the use of cryptocurrencies.

After information that the Indian government is finalizing a bill on cryptocurrencies, it became known that one of the largest private banks in India, Kotak
cooperates with the WazirX cryptocurrency exchange to provide services to cryptocurrency investors. In the last 8 months, payments and withdrawals of money for clients of Indian banks to cryptocurrency exchanges have been “frozen”.

“WazirX has a Kotak bank account that can be used to pay money to investors who trade on the exchange. This account is not functioning yet, documents are being drawn up and tests are being carried out, ”an anonymous source said.

Private banks in India have stopped interacting with cryptocurrency exchanges due to lack of clarity in regulations. In some cases, banks were faced with the fact that exchanges, citing an order from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), refused to provide services. In May, the country’s second largest bank, ICICI, advised payment gateway operators to turn off ICICI Netbanking for merchants involved in buying or selling cryptocurrencies. In August, the State Bank of India (SBI) demanded that payment systems turn off SBI UPI, thus blocking access to assets for cryptocurrency exchanges on the UPI platform.

“After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) informed banks that they could not cite the 2018 ban on serving cryptocurrency firms due to the fact that it was overturned by the Supreme Court, banks have the opportunity to interact with the cryptocurrency market. RBI urged banks to comply with KYC, AML, CFT, PMLA, FEMA procedures and analyze the level of risk exposure, ”said Rameesh Kailasam, CEO of IndiaTech.org.

In mid-November of this year, it became known that the country’s government may prohibit the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services, but allow the trade in digital assets. Now the bill is being finalized and there is no final decision yet, but the Indian government is seeking to regulate digital assets, rather than introduce a general ban.

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