Nepal Rastra Bank has given a clean cheat to e-Sewa after failing to find its involvement in bitcoin transactions via its e-wallet service. The bank had started an investigation on the suspicion that the e-wallet service provider was involved in bitcoin transactions. The clean cheat was given after the field investigation team sent by the bank was unable to find any evidence.
“The field investigation team we had sent has reported that e-Sewa is not involved in any bitcoin transactions,” said Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti to Bizmandu. “They are going to hold a meeting soon to clear this issue,” he added. Nepal Rastra Bank has banned bitcoin trading. The bank was forced to take this step last Bhadra to counter the challenge given by bitcoin to the world economy.
The Rastra Bank team had also conducted a field investigation of the partner banks of e-Sewa. The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested some people suspected of being involved in bitcoin transactions and has been investigating them.
On 13th August 2017, Nepal Rastra Bank had published a notice stating that Bitcoin is not the official currency of Nepal. So, any transactions that involved bitcoins were officially deemed illegal in Nepal. After the release of the notice, Bitsewa, a Nepal-based bitcoin trading platform closed its services stating that they had worked very hard to bring this technology to Nepal, but Nepal’s government had a very different plan and didn’t want this revolutionary technology in the hands of Nepali citizens.