Supreme Court of Israel: Prohibit Bank from Blocking Cryptocurrency Transactions

Leumi Bank made a decision in December last year. The bank decided to block payments to the Bitcoin Exchange during a surge in demand for crypto assets.

Leumi Bank claimed the decision was in line with the order issued by the Bank of Israel. But, this rule is actually part of the regulatory restrictions on online gambling. The bank further classified various Bitcoin exchanges as gambling sites, allowing it to block such exchanges from paying.

The Supreme Court of Israel on monday took a decision on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges. The decison was for banks to allow trades and Prohibiting them from limiting the bank accounts of companies that are related to the industry.

According to financemagnates reported on Monday, the Supreme Court of Israel issued an temporary court order prohibiting Israel’s Leumi Bank from restricting, in any capacity, the bank account of Bits of Gold, an Israeli cryptocurrency company acting as a exchange.

According to Globes Financial, Yuval Roash, chief executive of Gold of Bit, said in a statement to the Supreme Court’s decision that

“The court’s decision enables us to continue to focus on the base of the crypto community in Israel. We were the first to request the creation of rules for the activity of digital currencies and the first to stand by those rules. We will continue to lead the industry, in order to give digital currencies their rightful place in the Israeli economy, as an incredible growth engine for the high tech and financial industries.”

Supreme Court judge Anat Baron comments on the Court’s The ruling states:

“This court order is not intended to harm the bank’s rights to analyze with specificity every transaction that takes place with the bank account or to take any actions that are related to minimizing risks, which become transparent through the activities of the company.”

Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Israel toppled The bank’s decision marks a major victory for the cryptocurrency community.

Although the Supreme Court’s ruling does stop Leumi Bank from barring transactions or activities in the Bits of Gold bank account or any other cryptocurrency company, the bank can still by-pass the ruling by applying the restrictions.