Tag: IPL

Banks including HDFC Bank and State Bank of India have sent official notices to many customers warning them of curbs, including permanent closure of accounts.

Lenders are asking customers to clarify the nature of transactions and warning credit card users that transactions of virtual currency will lead to suspension/cancellation of card.

Though there is no order by the RBI, lenders are opting to tread on the side of caution.

While trading in cryptocurrency is not illegal as per existing Indian laws, individual institutions can enforce their terms based on their risk assessment.

Exchanges evaluating options

Crypto exchanges are currently evaluating their options and are hoping to resolve the matter with a dialogue instead of raising the matter in court again.

Last week, the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council also sent representation to various government stakeholders to put forward the industry’s case for banking access, according to a person privy to the matter.

Indian crypto exchanges, which have seen record-breaking transaction volume and customer sign-ups in recent months, are evaluating their options, including ways to seek clarification from the court and asking for additional supplemental material based on the verdict.

In May 2020, the co-founder of crypto exchange Unocoin had filed an RTI query questioning whether the RBI had prohibited banks from providing accounts to crypto exchange companies or crypto traders.

There is no prohibition on banks providing accounts to traders dealing with virtual currencies, the Reserve Bank of India told cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin then.

The crackdown

Since early May, leading banks, notably private sector lenders ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank, have asked payment gateway partners to stop processing such transactions.

Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Citibank, and others are limiting their exposure to the cryptocurrency market.

Banks, the industry sources said, have stopped issuing merchant IDs to payment gateways, and have asked these intermediaries to tighten scrutiny while dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges in India.

The issue started in late February and according to experts, the recent surge in the market, dogecoin frenzy and advertisements by crypto exchanges during IPL led to a fresh clampdown on the cryptocurrency.

Regulator against it

According to reports, the Reserve Bank of India is informally urging lenders to cut ties with cryptocurrency exchanges and traders as the highly speculative market booms, despite a Supreme Court ruling that banks can work with the industry.

The guidance comes as the Indian government is drafting a law to ban cryptocurrencies and penalise anyone dealing in them, which would be among the most sweeping crackdowns on the new investing fad in the world. But with the Covid crisis engulfing the country, no one is sure when such a bill may be passed, adding to investors` confusion.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2018 had forbidden banks from dealing in all transactions related to bitcoin and other such assets. That diktat was challenged by the crypto exchanges and in March 2020, India`s top court overturned the RBI ban and allowed lenders to extend banking facilities to them.