SBI Threatens To Suspend Credit Cards Used For Crypto Transactions

After ICICI Bank and Paytm Payments Bank recently decided to block transactions by users towards crypto exchanges, India’s largest bank State Bank of India has now issued another advisory to its customers. In its email to its credit card customers, the bank has cautioned that any usage of credit cards for crypto transactions may lead to suspension or cancellation of the customers’ SBI credit cards.“These are currently not regulated in India. As a result, the RBI is bound to take measures to stop large conversions of INR into cryptos,” an RBI official told Inc42.“The fact that there is a strong correlation between bitcoin prices and google searches indicates that it is perhaps more of a fad. The bottom line is that it seems to be highly speculative,” – Treasury Research, HDFC Bank

As reported in the latest The Outline By Inc42 Plus, the crypto market has been surging amid the pandemic — globally, the crypto market cap has risen 10x, from more than $200 Bn in March 2020 to $2 Tn in mid-May this year. In India, WazirX claims to have achieved 10x growth in just five months, the platform recorded $5.4 Bn in transaction value in April this year, up from $500 Mn in December 2020. In the last month, coinciding with the recent crypto boom in India, the Reserve Bank of India had informally asked banks to curtail growing INR conversions into crypto assets.