By Aditya Raghunath
Investing.com — Two of India’s largest financial institutions, HDFC Bank Ltd (NS:) and SBI (NS:) Cards and Payment Services Ltd (NS:), have issued advisories to their customers asking them to stop trading and dealing in cryptocurrencies.
Finance Twitter over the weekend was full of messages from users of these two banks who said they had got emails from their banks. HDFC (NS:) Bank’s email said that their accounts reflect that they might be trading in cryptocurrencies which is not permitted by the RBI according to an RBI circular.
SBI Card’s advisory said that customers who have been using their credit cards for transacting on virtual currency merchant platforms may have their cards suspended or canceled.
This comes in the backdrop of the finance ministry which is proposing a ban on all cryptocurrencies but has held off until now.
However, HDFC Bank’s email is in contrast to its report ‘Cryptocurrencies: Fad or Forever?’ where it says that it is only a matter of time before Indians get legal access to cryptocurrencies. The report said, “This might suggest that the digital tokens are here to stay and are not going away in a hurry.”
The report said that cryptocurrencies like could become another hedge similar to . “We find a positive correlation between gold and Bitcoin’s daily returns. Though the correlation was weak to start with, it has been rising. From a portfolio diversification perspective it has the properties of being a good hedge,” the report added, according to the Mint newspaper.