RBI Revives Push to Bar Banks’ Crypto, Private Stablecoin Exposure
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The Reserve Bank of India is again pushing to insulate the banking system from virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies and privately issued stablecoins.
Cointelegraph reported on July 3 that RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain and Executive Director P. Vasudevan laid out the central bank’s digital-asset stance before the Indian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance.
In a background report submitted to the committee, the RBI recommended banning the use of virtual assets for payments and settlements and restricting banks’ exposure to them. The central bank also said applying existing financial regulations to virtual assets could confer legitimacy on speculative assets and give users the mistaken impression that they are safe. It added that virtual assets should be distinguished from regulated financial products such as tokenized government and corporate bonds so the tokenization industry is not hampered.
The proposal resembles steps the RBI took in 2018. The central bank then directed regulated financial institutions to stop providing services tied to virtual-asset trading, effectively cutting crypto exchanges off from India’s banking system. India’s Supreme Court struck down the measure in March 2020, ruling that it violated the principle of proportionality.
Separately, India ranked first in Chainalysis’s 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Cointelegraph said the RBI has challenged the methodology used by the private firm to compile the rankings.
