The top court in India is keeping in place a ban that prevents banks, financial institutions and other regulated entities from providing services related to cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported. Chief Justice Dipak Misra led a bench that said the Reserve Bank of India’s directive will still stand.
The central bank had told financial institutions to exit their cryptocurrency operations within three months in a circular dated April 6, which has been in effect since that date. The central bank had argued that bitcoins can’t be considered currency with currency regulations, as coins must either be made of metal or otherwise exist as tangible objects that the government can stamp.
In other news, SK Planet is considering a plan to tokenize cash points earned by users of its rewards program, CoinDesk reported. While the bid is still subject to review, it may involve the creation of a stable coin, as the company’s points are tied to South Korea’s won currency.
SK Planet’s program, OK Cashbag, was founded about two decades ago – in 1999 – in order to reward customers of merchants that are affiliated with SK. The program counts more than 35 million users and 50,000 merchants. If users accrue over 50,000 points, they can exchange them for cash. The company told CoinDesk Korea that the value of points within its program could top $100 million.
And a CipherTrace report indicates that the amount of money stolen from crypto exchanges surged in the first six months of this year, Reuters reported. According to the report, $761 million was stolen from crypto exchanges during the first half of this year. By comparison, only $266 million was stolen from those exchanges for all of last year.
In all, the company reported that losses could top 1.5 billion in 2018. And as CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans told Reuters, “Stolen cryptocurrencies are three times bigger this year than last year, so the trend is obviously not our friend here.”
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