Bitcoin price: BTC plummets as Indian banks shut down cryptocurrency trading accounts
BITCOIN prices were sent plummeting after many of India’s leading private banks targeted and suspended cryptocurrency exchange accounts in a bid to curb digital currency trading.
By SEBASTIAN KETTLEY
Express.co.uk
Sun, Jan 21, 2018
Banks across India are cracking down on bitcoin trade, months after Finance Minster Arun Jaitley publicly denounced the digital currency.
Bitcoin opened on the markets at $12,899.20 (£9,307.16) before plunging by $1,000 (£721.53) just before 8am GMT.
The token bounced back somewhat at 2.05pm GMT, exchanging hands at $12,199.50 (£8,802.31) – down 4.11 percent on the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin exchanges in India are now under fire, with the State Bank of India (SB), Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank reportedly closing or limiting activity on accounts tied to bitcoin trade.
An insider told The Economic Times India that banks are now scrutinising current accounts held by India’s top exchanges.
About two weeks ago, Koinex, a popular crypto exchange based in Mumbai said that Indian banks were bottlenecking transactions, forcing Koinex to temporarily suspend business.
The exchange said in a blog post: “In the past few days, many of our users have faced difficulties with Indian Rupee (INR) withdrawals on Koinex.
“A tussle between our payment service partner and their bank has caused an indefinite delay in the settlement of a large portion of deposits to Koinex in the past two weeks.
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