India’s ICICI bank warns Remitter to stay away from Bitcoin

India’s stance on crypto adoption has remained a gray calm since the advent of Bitcoin. As another blow to the Indian crypto community, one of the largest financial services providers, ICICI Bank, has warned users not to use its remittance service to transfer any form of cryptocurrency or digital currency.

In the latest version of ICICI’s private transfer application form, the bank has made clear its intention to prevent users from using the electronic transfer service. Based on the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, the statement states:

“Air transfers are used to invest / buy Bitcoin / cryptocurrency / virtual currency (such as Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Dash, Peercoin, Dogecoin, Primecoin, Chinacoin, Ven). , Bitcoin (BTC)) or any other virtual currency / cryptocurrency / bitcoin). “

The major banking institution made two more points, reiterating its anti-acceptance stance and warning users not to use their remittance service to invest in companies that trade Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies and virtual currencies.

Users are also cautioned against depositing funds that may have been earned through previous crypto investments. However, the Indian government has yet to show resistance to blockchain-based financial applications.

ICICI’s use of FEMA in 1999 to combat crypto adoption is in line with other banking firms in the country since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced in April 2018 that it would ban banks from doing business with private companies.

Related: India Supreme Court Lifts RBI Ban on Banks Serving Cryptocurrency Companies

In contrast to ICICI’s recent move to belittle crypto enthusiasts, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the RBI’s ban on crypto-friendly banks. Because of this confusion, Indian crypto investors continue to find loopholes in the system to grow their crypto portfolios.

As government officials continue to postpone the inevitable date, the lack of regulatory clarity on crypto investing is having a direct impact on investors and the country’s fintech innovation land.

At the other end of the spectrum, India’s largest crypto exchange, Binance-owned WazirX, continues to see a surge in trading volume and new users amid RBI’s clarification to lift the ban, based on a Supreme Court decision.