China CITIC Bank Bans Bitcoin Transactions

Despite the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies worldwide, China CITIC Bank​, one of China's largest commercial banks in terms of total assets, has recently issued a statement banning its clients from using any CITIC Bank accounts to make and receive payments from bitcoin (BTC) and litecoin (LTC) trading.

According to the bank, the main reason behind this move is to curb money laundering. "In order to protect the property rights of the public, maintain RMB's position as a fiat currency, and prevent money laundering, all clients, including institutions, firms and individuals, are prohibited from using CITIC Bank accounts to make and receive payments from bitcoin (BTC) and litecoin (LTC) trading with immediate effect," said the state-owned bank in its statement. 

"Any transaction related to the purchases and sales of top-up code for BTC and LTC trading, as well as transfers of trading funds are not allowed through our bank accounts," the bank added.

Governments' polarized attitudes towards crypto

CITIC Bank's latest move can be partially attributed to Chinese government's negative attitude towards crypto. The Central bank of China has unveiled its plan to "block access to all domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges and (Initial Coin Offerings) websites" before long.

In addition to CITIC Bank, recently, India's largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank also shut out crypto trades as the Indian government is reportedly proposing a new Bill that could ban all transactions related to cryptocurrencies.

As opposed to investors, who are rushing in to embrace crypto amid massive price jumps, governments are showing polarized attitudes towards cryptocurrencies.

Last month, Turkey's central bank also prohibited the use of crypto in commerce​, citing the danger of "irreparable" damage and transactional risk.

However, there are nations moving ahead to embrace crypto as an asset class. In Germany, legislation effective July 1 will allow money managers to invest up to 20% of a fund's holdings in crypto-assets. In the United States, some U.S. banks will soon allow their customers to buy, hold and sell crypto through their current accounts, according to crypto custody firm NYDIG, which has partnered with Fidelity National Information Services to empower banks in the USA to provide bitcoin in the coming months.