As the Israeli banking system continues to make life difficult for Bitcoin users in the country, the courts are stepping in to help the cryptocurrency enthusiast. The latest move sees a bank forced to accept funds from the sale of Bitcoin.
Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank, has been forced by the Tel Aviv District Court to accept a transfer of funds resulting from the sale of Bitcoin. A client of the bank was denied an incoming transfer of $195,000 from a European Bitcoin trading venue into his joint account.
The law firm which represented the plaintiffs explained that this was an important precedent as it stops the banks issuing their blanket ban without taking each case on merits.
This is an important precedent that obliges the banking system as a whole to reconsider its policy regarding funds originating in virtual currency transactions, while conducting a real and relevant examination of each ad hoc transaction, rather than automatically denying each transaction without examining it on its merits,” the lawyers explained.