​Is the freeze on crypto payments in India a shadow ban?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

The present predicament was triggered after a statement by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that it was “not aware” of any crypto exchanges using the UPI system. It issued this statement following a Coinbase India launch event where the latter advertised that its users would be able to make deposits using UPI. Following the NPCI statement, Mobikwik, Kotak Mahindra and others stopped providing services to crypto exchanges in India. There is no official order, circular or statement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or NPCI prohibiting banks or other payment systems from providing services to crypto exchanges. Nevertheless, as reported by The Economic Times, a senior bank official confirmed to them that RBI supervisors have been asking banks to “exercise caution” on crypto until there was greater regulatory clarity.

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It is surely more than a coincidence that so many banks and service providers have been led to take similar actions in quick succession. The only plausible reading of the situation is that they have done so out of abundant caution after NPCI's statement and RBI's unofficial nudges. The public statement released by the NPCI is itself cryptic (pun intended) and evasive. It says that the NPCI is “not aware of any crypto exchanges using UPI”. Why would a regulatory body issue a public statement declaring its own lack of awareness unless, of course, it aims to send a subtle message to those associated with the industry concerned? As far as the question of legal and regulatory clarity is concerned,