The country of India has experienced an explosive increment in banking in the country as well as the popularity of cryptocurrencies with the general population. 80% of the adults in the country now have a bank account. Also to add is that Indians remitted $69 Billion into the country in 2017. It is with these figures that it is no surprise that the Kotak Mahindra Bank has joined the RippleNet network.
Kotak Mahindra Bank is a leading bank in India with over 1,300 branches. This makes the bank ideal in additionally using xCurrent as announced by the team at Ripple on the 27th of June. All members of RippleNet are connected using xCurrent which is a standard on the network. xCurrent enables a bank to message and settle their transactions faster, securely and in a transparent manner. xCurrent is a familiar product for many cryptocurrency enthusiasts for the Santander Bank, is using the same Ripple product for cross-border remittance payments.
The news of Kotak Mahindra bank joining the RippleNet network and using xCurrent comes at a pivotal point in the country of India. This is due to the fact that the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) issued a ban on crypto activities, starts on July 5th. This ban stops commercial banks and other registered financial institutions, from dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges and other activities including individual deposits of fiat to exchanges.
However, the ban has been appealed by crypto traders, the mentioned exchanges as well as other stakeholders. The hearing of the case has been scheduled for the 3rd of July which is a few days away and 2 days before the ban takes effect.
The Ripple company and team has shown optimism that the ban will be reversed for the RBI had openly admitted that the decision to issue the order, was rushed without them doing proper research. Also, all banks in India adhere to the Basel Norms of banking which state that each bank should have a backup remittance system that uses a different technology than the one they primarily use. This means that Ripple technology qualifies as that backup system for banks in the country.