The central bank has given three months to banks to end all existing relationships with bitcoin players. However, the central bank, in an interesting move, also said it is keen on floating its own cryptocurrency or digital currency going ahead.
“Rapid changes in the landscape of the payments industry along with factors such as emergence of private digital tokens and the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money have led central banks around the world to explore the option of introducing fiat digital currencies. While many central banks are still engaged in the debate, an inter-departmental group has been constituted by the Reserve Bank to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency,” RBI said adding that a report in this regard will be submitted by end of June this year.