Indian banks freezing bank accounts AGAIN !

[fiulpro]

Even though cryptocurrencies like : Bitcoins is legal in India apparently the banks do believe they have a power over the users and there have been statements from the verified users regarding:

1. Paytm freezing bank accounts which are involved in Crypto trading , OR , the accounts they suspect are involved with the trading of cryptocurrencies

2. Axis bank freezing accounts related to Cryptocurrencies

3. Axis banks asking customers to sign how they are not using their bank accounts for crypto trading and such.

https://news.bitcoin.com/paytm-freezes-indian-bank-accounts-cryptocurrency-trading/

Here I would like to extend this news with a statement from RBI:

Crypto trading is not illegal. Banks are not restricted. However banks can act in their own interest, so users are advised to take caution.

Which further shows us how centralized the government is and how users even though are not taking part in any illegal activities can be banned for no reason . Apart from that the bill which is going to ban cryptocurrencies for once and for all has been a matter of combat between the crypto enthusiasts and the Governmental authorities.

_*_

The Government is creating hardships for the people who are living in India and are dependent on the virtual currencies. At the same time people are being tracked , media is doing little or no justice to the image of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies , amongst all this how can the Biggest democracy in the world neglect it's citizens.

There are around five million digital currency users in India.

This statement itself shows how the banks and the Government itself is creating mockery of what the kids are taught in school itself :
Government is to the people , for the people , by the people

What the students should be taught is: Government is embodiment of the shadows of the rich and the wealthy people in the society and chooses to follow them , enabling the Centralization and the corruption to grow when the common man suffers and is restricted from their personal choices in the matters that the government thinks can harm the country or could reduce their power.

Bitcoins is here to stay , I do believe that hopefully the Government will realize this and work towards building a crypto friendly economy.

I choose to share this article because I do believe the Indian people who are using their bank accounts connected with the wallets should be careful regarding which bank they are dealing with and try and  clear this out with your banks before they ban your account and you have to run time and again in the office to get your remaining money which is now locked and needs like 100 signatures to be safely transferred to you .

Plus please make sure to see if you bank does allow crypto trading because often we tick every new column that pops up in the online banking every once in a while but fail to see what they might have in board for us.

Plus you can try and use DBS , the online bank account which I am using since 4 years for trading and didn't face any problems till now .

_*_

Another country choosing to stay back.. while Bitcoins by integrating themselves with the economy of the countries accepting the new norm is taking them years ahead . Genuinely.

[It's a technology of the future and I do believe we need young people who are Motivated towards the IT sector to help and run the Government instead of people who are too old to change.]

Is there any future of Bitcoins in India ?

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[avikz]

The below statement of RBI itself is flawed and kept the gap open so that the banks can work against the interest of the account holders.

Crypto trading is not illegal. Banks are not restricted. However banks can act in their own interest, so users are advised to take caution.

With this statement, now even banking ombudsman won't help to unlock the freezed account because banks are not acting against RBI statement.

Sonner or later, cryptos will be banned India because when building a temple become a matter of national importance even in the COVID situation - it clearly notifies that India has started moving backwards!

[kryptqnick]

Banks are allowed to freeze accounts when they believe the activity is suspicious, right? And do we know for sure that those whose accounts were freezed were trading on licensed exchanges that legally operate in India, and were complying with trading-related legislation? Was this money legally earned, were they paying taxes for trading (if they're obliged to)?
India has has struggles with accepting Bitcoin, and banks are the natural enemies of cryptocurrencies, so I'm not surprised they are being hostile. However, just as op, I hope that this anti-crypto stance will not persist in India, and people won't have troubles using them there.

[harryCain]

While India does not yet have a legal framework for cryptocurrencies, the government has reassured its citizens that a crypto bill is already awaiting approval. Coin Crunch, an Indian crypto news outlet, reported on Monday that, “Many users are reporting Paytm is freezing bank accounts of Paytm payments bank account holders with suspicion of crypto trading”. Some customers also reported being asked to sign a declaration form confirming they, “do not deal in any type of virtual currency transactions” through their accounts at the bank.

[20kevin20]

Yeah, I'm trying to stay as far away from banks as possible although I'm non-Indian and there's no sign of crypto ban in Europe. Banks always acted as saviors and "your best friend" but have always been the exact opposite. Mixing centralized systems with an overpowered institution and cryptocurrencies could turn into a big mess at any given time. The fact that a bank has the right to decide at any point to freeze someone's account because "the activity is against their interest" although the said activity is in no way illegal is a big pile of BS.

[Twentyonepaylots]

I don't know what's happening lately in India, there are some movements where applications and platforms like Mobile Legends (MLBB) and TikTok has been banned operating to their country, there are more apps that will be permanently banned in India about 50 more. And now they are banning crypto again, anything that revolves with crypto including the financial institution that deals with crypto which I think is not a good decision considered by their government. I think they also see, and focused on it's bad side coz it might be used in illegal activities and didn't look at the business opportunities that it can provide. This is so sad  

[stompix]

Which further shows us how centralized the government is and how users even though are not taking part in any illegal activities can be banned for no reason .

Plus you can try and use DBS , the online bank account which I am using since 4 years for trading and didn't face any problems till now .

So why are you directing your hate towards the government when banks are acting like this on their own?
You just mentioned that you have used a bank to transfer (probably) funds in and out of an exchange for 4 years, and the bank has not taken any action, so it comes down to the banks you're using.

Besides, you're making a wrong assumption, banks are not intervening in the crypto transfer as they obviously can't, they are flagging down accounts involved in what they call suspicious activity with fiat transfers, nothing will change if cryptocurrencies will be legal, banks will always have the power and unfortunately also the legal right to close down or limit your account if they think something wrong is going there. Things like this are not limited to India, we have such cases even in Europe, I have a few friends who got questions about the source of funds they were receiving, the funny part is that they were dealing with less money than me and I haven't got one notice.
For most of the banks, it's simply that they want to avoid any further hassle or inquiry, they are happier with people getting their daily wage in the account which is tracked amount than people who might bring an investigation and what that investigation might uncover totally unrelated to the case.

Simply close your account and move to the other one, if all those 5 million you said are crypto users in India would do the same banks will take notice.
Or better, stop using banks altogether, I thought that was the point of crypto, right?

[Findingnemo]

If banks are freezing accounts which is against the court order then it is possible to take legal actions against them right? People trade through p2p are most likely won't get caught for this because it is going to be a random person to person transaction so if the banks are acting in this way then better find a way to confuse them.

[Ozero]

While India does not yet have a legal framework for cryptocurrencies, the government has reassured its citizens that a crypto bill is already awaiting approval. Coin Crunch, an Indian crypto news outlet, reported on Monday that, “Many users are reporting Paytm is freezing bank accounts of Paytm payments bank account holders with suspicion of crypto trading”. Some customers also reported being asked to sign a declaration form confirming they, “do not deal in any type of virtual currency transactions” through their accounts at the bank.

If banks in India are so tough against the use of cryptocurrency by citizens, it is necessary not to use their services where it is related to cryptocurrency. After all, you can use cryptocurrency without being tied to bank accounts and bank cards. It must be remembered that banks clearly work according to the instructions that are given to them from above. Therefore, one should expect the emergence of regulations of the government and legislators of this country regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency. Only after that the banks will work in the legal field.
In the meantime, there is still a legal vacuum in India regarding cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is not allowed there, but it is not prohibited either. Everyone must decide on the laws to regulate cryptocurrency.

[so98nn]

I don't know what's happening lately in India, there are some movements where applications and platforms like Mobile Legends (MLBB) and TikTok has been banned operating to their country, there are more apps that will be permanently banned in India about 50 more. And now they are banning crypto again, anything that revolves with crypto including the financial institution that deals with crypto which I think is not a good decision considered by their government. I think they also see, and focused on it's bad side coz it might be used in illegal activities and didn't look at the business opportunities that it can provide. This is so sad  

I believe they have taken this decision considering the current financial situation of country. Just look around India and status of finances, it’s breaking apart.

Now you can direct this concerns with the people who are holding big bags of Indian currencies in the form of bitcoin. We can’t deny this includes, entrepreneurs, politicians, Bollywood personalities and more.

I think this fact can’t be denied in first place and government knows how they are hiding their TAXES,,!

These are few of the points we shall consider in discussion.

Well, this is just an assumption but I think it’s close one. And of course bad for rest of us who are trying passive income ways through this.

[tsaroz]

I don't think bank would just freeze account of their customers on their own without a directive from the government or regulatory bodies. I don't know how it works there but banks always tries to keep their customer with them. They won't be troubling people for just using the banks to buy legal things. One situation maybe the number of fraud calls originating on transactions, but I don't think that would be large among legit crypto traders. Often non crypto networking schemes are also sold as crypto to naive investors around the world.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Banks are allowed to freeze accounts when they believe the activity is suspicious, right? And do we know for sure that those whose accounts were freezed were trading on licensed exchanges that legally operate in India, and were complying with trading-related legislation? Was this money legally earned, were they paying taxes for trading (if they're obliged to)?

It depends on case to case and how their bank transfer histories are. If they did something suspicious, money laundering, illegal money etc. Banks do have right to freeze such accounts and frozen account owners are not considered as victims if proofs show they broke banks' ToS and the local laws as well.

[so98nn]

[…]

I think that’s correct.

Bank need people more than they need bank. I mean people can always take money and buy gold, silver, and bitcoin in our case. They can always find a way to store money.

Honestly, bank runs through the money that they collect from people. They charge interest against loans (many kinds), and that’s how they get income.

They can’t just go on blocking the accounts.

[pawanjain]

Indian Government have no such restrictions against cryptocurrencies but these Indian banks always have a grudge against bitcoin.
Even though the Government has not passed any law to freeze the bank accounts of crypto holders, the bank freeze their accounts.
Personally I have been trading crypto for years now but I have not encountered any such incident so far.
So I think the banks only freezes the accounts of suspicious users and not all crypto holders.

[AjithBtc]

Maybe the banks were experiencing downfall in the annual revenue. India is one among the country that has got huge increase in the users over the past few months time. If I'm not wrong the cryptocurrency markets growth is the main reason for the ongoing freezing of accounts. Localbitcoins is the platform thats been used much for the trading purpose. Right now almost every trader is perfectly registered with the bank for taxation. So there is no need of blocking accounts of the customers.

[ChiBitCTy]

This is certainly very frustrating.  Here in the United States we've had issues with all sorts of institutions having issue with cryptocurrency.  At one point you could use your credit card to purchase crypto, then you couldn't now I think you can.  PayPal has had issues etc.  Hopefully things start to change.

[hermawan9416]

I don't think this is at all surprising. India can not yet decide how to treat crypto. They either accept crypto or ban it.

[carter34]

Banks are allowed to freeze accounts when they believe the activity is suspicious, right? And do we know for sure that those whose accounts were freezed were trading on licensed exchanges that legally operate in India, and were complying with trading-related legislation? Was this money legally earned, were they paying taxes for trading

You have raised so many valid questions and I think these are bases for banning or seizure and freezing of accounts. If users don't comply to rules of doing business and taking to illegal dealings, banning might be inevitable.

[Ucy]

If cryptocurrency (a currency) trading is not illegal, why then would the banks freeze the accounts? Is it not possible or easy to report the banks that are violating that part of the law/rules that say "trading crypto is not illegal"?
A company's interest cannot be above the Just "Law of the Land" it operates.
By the way, I wonder where on earth it's illegal to trade or exchange one currency for another.

[hatshepsut93]

Individual banks have been closing accounts of their customers who deal with crypto all over the world and for a long time. Some banks see it as a risk that isn't worth taking. I think this just highlights how low the adoption of crypto is currently is, crypto was supposed to disrupt banks, but it's practically impossible to live without a bank account these days, especially if you try to go 100% on crypto. So, until it changes, you should be careful with your bank, research if it tolerates crypto or not, maybe get a separate account for withdrawing crypto.