It was heartening to read an article in todaysgazette.com that “Leading Banks across the world are Blocking Crypto currencies” .
According to the report,
In the U.S., several banks have banned their users from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies. The Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Discover, and Capital One are freezing the accounts of users who try to use their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies. Also it states that VISA severed its links with Wave Crest after Visa claimed that Wave Crest was not following its rules.
In the U.K., Lloyds banking group was the first to announce it was banning users from buying crypto with their credit cards, following which the Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and MBNA also banned their customers from buying cryptocurrencies. Most banks are pointing out money laundering and high volatility, as among the top reasons for banning trades related to crypto.
In Asia, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), is also blocking users from carrying out any transaction related to Bitcoin or altcoins. In India, Banks have warned their customers against using their cards to buy cryptocurrency and threatened that customers who did not reveal the nature of their transactions will have their accounts closed and terminate any account used to fund trades related to cryptocurrency.
These developments need to be taken note of by the Ministry of Finance under Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman so that an appropriate notification is issued to end the uncertainty in the Indian regulatory scenario. The MeiTy can also make a move on its own to ensure that the list of “Exclusions” indicated in Schedule 2 of ITA 2000/8 includes “Any Electronic document purporting to be a currency or legal tender”.
Naavi
