1 August 2026
RBI Deputy Governor Recommends Cryptocurrency Ban In India
The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, T. Rabi Sankar, has compared Cryptocurrency to Ponzi schemes. According to him, banning Cryptocurrencies rather than regulating them would be the “most advisable choice” for the Indian government.
He said, “We have also seen that cryptocurrencies are not amenable to definition as a currency, asset or commodity. Cryptocurrencies are not currencies, or financial assets or real assets or even digital assets. Therefore, it cannot be regulated by any financial sector regulator. It is not possible to regulate something that one cannot define."
Regulating Crypto would ultimately be condoning its use as a store of value, even a currency in some cases, according to Sankar. Although he does admit that people will still use Crypto if it is banned, just as “drug trafficking is a rampant phenomenon despite a ban.”
He also highlighted that allowing Cryptocurrency to exist in a fiat-dominated ecosystem “is bound to have a destabilizing effect on the monetary and fiscal stability of a country.”
Sankar claimed that if Crypto gets regulated, it will be used as an investment asset, and its utility will rise as a store of value, drawing more users away from the Rupee.
Sankar said, “Also, unlike the value of Rupee, which is anchored by monetary policy and its status as legal tender, the value of crypto assets rests solely on the expectation that others will also value and use them.”
On 11th February, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government has not yet decided whether to legalize or ban Crypto.
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