Some prominent banks in India collectively suspended accounts of Bitcoin exchanges, probably to check suspicious deals.
According to a report by Economic Times, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank have suspended accounts across multiple exchanges. The banks have imposed a limit on cash withdrawals also. The action will be applicable to at least 10 Bitcoin exchanges, including Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia.
The immediate suspension is said to be based on Suspicious Transaction Reports filed by the banks on a regular basis. Reports noted that the Reserve Bank of India, the apex bank has not issued any special directive to curb bitcoin transactions. Quoting sources, the Economics Times said the banks found it difficult to ascertain the purpose of certain current accounts.
Earlier in December, Income Tax Department had inspected Bitcoin exchanges, and the Reserve Bank had issued warnings against cryptocurrency dealings. Though India has not banned virtual currencies, the Government has been keeping a view that bitcoins were comparable to Ponzi scheme. The Department of Finance also had stated in November that India did not recognize crypto currency as a legal tender. India has constituted a committee to report on virutual currencies.
Last year, China has shutdown Bitcoin exchanges.
Bitcoin is trading at $10,838.85 on Coinbase, down $4,861.62 since last month. Earlier, after dropping to $10000 levels, it had recovered to trade around $11000 before declining again.
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