SBI's action against bank account holders dealing in crypto

[rsarkar]

There are numerous reports on bank accounts being closed/blocked due to dealings in bitcoin and other cryptos. The most affected are the customers of Kotak bank. Is there any specific report where an individuals or business bank account has been closed by State bank due to similar reason?

[avikz]

Frankly, I didn't see any such reports related to Indian bank accounts in recent times! How did you came to know that the accounts are being closed? Can you please share any link or a screenshot of a communication on a similar line? Even I am shocked to know this!

There have been few incidents related to hacked accounts. Where FIR was registered against a few peopl because they had received money from those hacked accounts! I don't know about any other incidents about account closure!

[Clement Kaliyar]

There are numerous reports on bank accounts being closed/blocked due to dealings in bitcoin and other cryptos.

I am hearing about these rumors but i have not seen any users reporting here about account blockage.

There have been few incidents related to hacked accounts. Where FIR was registered against a few peopl because they had received money from those hacked accounts! I don't know about any other incidents about account closure!

This is true, hacked credit cards are used to purchase coins and the accounts that got these amounts are scrutinized and questioned, other than than i have not heard any users complaining about account closure because they are dealing with bitcoin and other crypto.

[akram143]

There are numerous reports on bank accounts being closed/blocked due to dealings in bitcoin and other cryptos. The most affected are the customers of Kotak bank. Is there any specific report where an individuals or business bank account has been closed by State bank due to similar reason?

I had also done trading with my SBI account and never get any issues with that because I never done trading for huge amount so if you forund that you are dealing with cryptos then chances of account will be freezed since RBI warned them to do so.

[sureshnsnet]

I am using my sbi bank account at localbitcoins and other p2p crypto exchanges since more than 4 years with any issue and one of my friend using his current account also for p2p exchange. Maybe there is a chance to block your account if they identified the use of crypto-related then it will possible because of RBI rules.

[rsarkar]

PSU banks care less about closing accounts on the basis of complaints as compared to private banks.

[erikalui]

Nationalized bank accounts should never be trusted or used while dealing with crypto. Also, how can these banks even know about crypto transactions when the deals are p2p?

[Clement Kaliyar]

Nationalized bank accounts should never be trusted or used while dealing with crypto. Also, how can these banks even know about crypto transactions when the deals are p2p?

It is not easy but if they really want to weed out the transactions then they can really do that if you are getting transaction from different accounts across the country they can sort that out who is doing these transactions and they can question you about the different sources of money from different accounts, so it is possible if they really wanted to target users.

[akram143]

Nationalized bank accounts should never be trusted or used while dealing with crypto. Also, how can these banks even know about crypto transactions when the deals are p2p?

When sender of money writes something related to cryptos while making deposit of doing IMPS or UPI then this will bring an alarm to our account and they will watch changes in activity and if it got more transactions related to cryptos then possibly get blocked without noticing about retriving.

[erikalui]

When sender of money writes something related to cryptos while making deposit of doing IMPS or UPI then this will bring an alarm to our account and they will watch changes in activity and if it got more transactions related to cryptos then possibly get blocked without noticing about retriving.

I guess even if the sender doesn't mention anything but is caught having crypto deals earlier, they'll question the source of funds every time. This situation has existed since years as even in 2016, the banks were terribly against crypto transactions and considered them illegal but now they have become even more strict by closing the accounts. Do they have a right on the funds too? Want to know from the affected users whether they managed to reopen their accounts and remove the funds.

[akram143]

When sender of money writes something related to cryptos while making deposit of doing IMPS or UPI then this will bring an alarm to our account and they will watch changes in activity and if it got more transactions related to cryptos then possibly get blocked without noticing about retriving.

I guess even if the sender doesn't mention anything but is caught having crypto deals earlier, they'll question the source of funds every time. This situation has existed since years as even in 2016, the banks were terribly against crypto transactions and considered them illegal but now they have become even more strict by closing the accounts. Do they have a right on the funds too? Want to know from the affected users whether they managed to reopen their accounts and remove the funds.

Possibly,when huge transactions are happening between two saving accounts and even in current account receiving big amount from random third parties with no company account has chances of getting caught but someone who has limit less than a lakh per month will be out of radar for sure from my experience.

[erikalui]

Possibly,when huge transactions are happening between two saving accounts and even in current account receiving big amount from random third parties with no company account has chances of getting caught but someone who has limit less than a lakh per month will be out of radar for sure from my experience.

Private sector banks don't question users like state banks but banks like ICICI, HDFC, SBI all are more interested in such big transactions. The smaller banks don't have so much interest in user's funds.

[libert19]

Kotak is strict on crypto, they sent notices, calls to consumers for suspected transactions, even when you register they tell to not do any transactions in crypto (click me!)

Won't be surprised if they closed the accounts.

Edit: not close, but freeze

[Clement Kaliyar]

Kotak is strict on crypto, they sent notices, calls to consumers for suspected transactions, even when you register they tell to not do any transactions in crypto
Won't be surprised if they closed the accounts.

How about the customers who are having account before they added this disclaimer and my biggest doubt is that how are they going to determine whether someone is dealing with bitcoin or other assets, either they need to create a separate wing to monitor those which is expensive as it is not that easy to monitor those unless they want to monitor and question every transaction and how they are going to provide a proof in court when the case regarding it is still sitting in Supreme court.

[libert19]

Kotak is strict on crypto, they sent notices, calls to consumers for suspected transactions, even when you register they tell to not do any transactions in crypto
Won't be surprised if they closed the accounts.

How about the customers who are having account before they added this disclaimer.

Disclaimer was for awareness's sake, if rbi puts a guideline, does it matter when you created the account?

my biggest doubt is that how are they going to determine whether someone is dealing with bitcoin or other assets, either they need to create a separate wing to monitor those which is expensive as it is not that easy to monitor those unless they want to monitor and question every transaction and how they are going to provide a proof in court when the case regarding it is still sitting in Supreme court.

Some people put crypto remarks in crypto transactions(mistakenly/deliberately idk), this makes banks aware of it.

And quite possibly, if you linked your bank account to zebpay/etc when there was no rbi ban, then they can suspect that you used to deal in crypto and might still be doing it.

[akram143]

Kotak is strict on crypto, they sent notices, calls to consumers for suspected transactions, even when you register they tell to not do any transactions in crypto (click me!)

Won't be surprised if they closed the accounts.

AFAIK,they only freeze accounts,if they are closing your account then they are supposed to return any amount left on your bank acount so we may not lose our money but the account so don't do big transactions is the only way to save us from losing our accounts.

[Clement Kaliyar]

Some people put crypto remarks in crypto transactions(mistakenly/deliberately idk), this makes banks aware of it.

These are not admissible proof in court that i put something as remarks for me to understand and i can use any code word i like to make sure i identify the transaction.

And quite possibly, if you linked your bank account to zebpay/etc when there was no rbi ban, then they can suspect that you used to deal in crypto and might still be doing it.

If i made a transaction with crypto exchanges before the RBI ban and if the bank is going to target me because i was doing something which was not having any legal implication and if they target me because they have a doubt that i am trading crypto i can very well drag them to court. I have done transaction with all the crypto exchanges and i have withdraw huge sums of amount and i have paid taxes on those transactions and if they are going to target for some profit that i made and paid taxes how are they going to target me saying that i have done something illegal.
To be precise in the past two days i sold BSV which i was holding for a long time but not everything and it is a fairly huge amount in Kotak bank just to check after seeing this topic. Lets see what happens .

[libert19]

^ Most don't care enough to go to court, they would rather just let go of the account.

To be precise in the past two days i sold BSV which i was holding for a long time but not everything and it is a fairly huge amount in Kotak bank just to check after seeing this topic. Lets see what happens Grin.

Wish I was as courageous as you.

[Clement Kaliyar]

^ Most don't care enough to go to court, they would rather just let go of the account.

Most do not dare to go to the legal system to fight because of the delay in getting justice or they are not paying their taxes properly but no one will let the account go and think that everything will be fine, if they confiscate your account then there will be other legal actions that will be waiting for you.

Wish I was as courageous as you.

It is not about getting courage, i will update if there is any action against me, i will not publicly specify the details of my account and amount as i know it will be a public information challenging the authorities, i am not doing that here but just want to know whether they will take any action and if they do i will file a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and i can prove that i have not done anything wrong as i am a law abiding citizen paying all the taxes in time.

[akram143]

^ Most don't care enough to go to court, they would rather just let go of the account.

Most do not dare to go to the legal system to fight because of the delay in getting justice or they are not paying their taxes properly but no one will let the account go and think that everything will be fine, if they confiscate your account then there will be other legal actions that will be waiting for you.

Wish I was as courageous as you.

It is not about getting courage, i will update if there is any action against me, i will not publicly specify the details of my account and amount as i know it will be a public information challenging the authorities, i am not doing that here but just want to know whether they will take any action and if they do i will file a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and i can prove that i have not done anything wrong as i am a law abiding citizen paying all the taxes in time.

Possibility of your transaction get noticed is fairly less but if they know this involves cryptos then they might send you a warning first.

One of my social media friend also receives warning from kotak and his account is not accessible for couple of days.