The Indian branches of banks HSBC, HDFC and Citi require cryptocurrency traders to provide a report on transactions with digital assets, otherwise their bank accounts may be closed.
Indian clients of these banks began to receive messages demanding clarification on the conduct of incoming and outgoing transactions with cryptocurrencies. To do this, you must personally come to the bank branch. If no clarification is received, banks may block user accounts. The letters say that in order to comply with regulatory requirements, banks are required to carefully study the transactions carried out by their customers in order to protect them from the risks associated with digital currencies.
The Indian government is considering the possibility of a complete ban on the use of digital assets in the country, despite criticism and disagreement from participants in the cryptocurrency industry. Many leaders of Indian cryptocurrency trading platforms believe that a ban on owning, trading, mining and investing in cryptocurrencies will contribute to even greater poverty in the country.
The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath, said that the government must act “in the opposite direction” to develop the Indian economy. He explained that with the help of cryptocurrencies, people without access to banking services can also become an important part of the country’s financial system.
Recall that at the beginning of the month, the Central Bank of Nigeria banned commercial banks and financial institutions from servicing the accounts of firms that carry out transactions with cryptocurrencies. HSBC, one of the UK’s largest banks, has stopped processing payments related to digital assets and is preventing its clients from cash out from cryptocurrency wallets. British bank Lloyds Bank is also taking similar actions in relation to cryptocurrency traders.
The author of the podcast What Bitcoin Did, Peter McCormack, said that by taking such measures, banks are distancing themselves from traders and “hurting themselves.” McCormack believes that people should make their own financial decisions, and banks should not limit their customers to this.
