SBI Cautions Customers against Bitcoins

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday warned its customers with the potential threats of using Bitcoins but did not ban the use of credit cards for such investments. SBI cautioned its customers against Bitcoins under 5 points as discussed below-

• Reserve Bank of India has not given any authorisation to operate any such crypto currency schemes or virtual currencies such as Bitcoins.
• According to the statement of SBI, “Given concerns, both globally and locally, SBI Card would like to advise you to be mindful of potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks associated in dealing with crypto-currencies and virtual currencies.”
• Before the message of SBI, Citi Banks have also informed its customers that it has banned the usage of debit as well credit cards for the purchase or trading of virtual currencies.
• Arun Jailtley, the current finance minister of India in the recent budget speech said that it considers crypto currencies or coin trade as illegal and will take all necessary measures to eliminate the usage of these virtual currencies as the part of the payment system.
• The RBI has also clarified that it has not given any licence to any company to deal with Bitcoins or any other currency.