Top banks suspend accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India

[Sudhakar]

My first post on BitCoin after years of following the btc story - Top banks suspend accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India



I see this move as a promotion strategy by RBI or SEBI or Indian Government etc. They did the same to Uber year ago that they are blocking uber and now uber is been the transport hub of India reaching every corner . Our Indian Government blocked uber since there payment system transfers the money out of India. After a weeks or months, uber introduced Paytm or some payment gateway and Our beautiful Indian Government said go a head Uber India. Now uber give too tooooo much of promotion of 10 rs , 20 rs , 30 rs per trip only for the first timers and then for regularly users weekly once. But they could use those promotions cost x 50 times , may be for tax evading or tax savings from our Indian  Government.

Similarly this bitcoin exchanges in India is ruffly about 4 who dominate from the beginning and rest all is just growing up. Recently we received an enquiry for bitcoin exchange in Anna Nagar who looked to be a small vendor but he want to be a bitcoin Exchange in India like Unicorn. When we quoted him 25 lakh please for the development cost orally just to ignore them, no further response from the vendor.

So i see this axis bank, icici bank, yes bank, sbi bank and hdfc banks have blocked 10 major bitcoin player - Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia with over 40,000 crore blocked yesterday.


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Top lenders including State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank have suspended some accounts of major Bitcoin exchanges in India, suspecting dubious transactions, three people aware of the development said.

The banks have also sought additional collateral from the promoters of these exchanges on their borrowings and have capped cash withdrawals from the few accounts that are still operational.  (Source:ET)

"Since last month, banks have been asking for additional collateral with 1:1ratio," a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The banks are scrutinising current accounts held by top Bitcoin exchanges, a second person said. Action has been initiated against the top 10 Bitcoin exchanges including Zebpay, Unocoin, CoinSecure and BtcxIndia, said four people aware of the matter.

"The banks have not contacted the company or the promoters regarding the actions you have mentioned," said Sathvik Vishwanath, promoter of Unocoin.

Emailed queries to Zebpay, Coin-Secure and BtcxIndia did not elicit any response. SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Bitcoins are a digital currency that can be used to buy products and services without any intermediary. People also buy Bitcoins, which has been banned in some countries, as an investment.

Largely Unregulated

Although India hasn't banned Bitcoins, the cryptocurrency is largely unregulated.

The total revenue of the top 10 exchanges in India could be about Rs 40,000 crore, according to tax officials scrutinising these companies.

"These exchanges tend to show the total volumes both on buy and sell side as their revenue. In many instances, the exchanges themselves buy and sell cryptocurrencies on their own platform," said an indirect tax official who is part of a team investigating the applicability of sales tax on Bitcoin exchanges for the previous financial year.

Many of the exchanges operate at a margin of close to 20%, according to the people. The profit comes from the premium charged by the exchanges, the difference in the buying and selling price and when the exchanges themselves get involved in trading.

Most of the exchanges have different rates for buying and selling cryptocurrency. Often, the difference between buying and selling rates is about 25%.

Source : https://www.techgig.com/tech-news/Top-banks-suspend-accounts-of-major-Bitcoin-exchanges-in-India-153178