Developments In Israeli Banking And Crypto

The Israeli banking sector has been very cautious in its approach towards virtual currencies. In light of the Bank of Israel's reluctance to issue meaningful guidelines, banks have consistently viewed activities relating to cryptocurrencies as "high risk." In the absence of institutional leadership, other state institutions have been forced to attempt to create a form of framework for the financial institutions. In an interim decision in 2017, the Tel-Aviv District Court highlighted this issue and accordingly allowed banks to refuse service to accounts connected with the virtual currencies. Since then we have seen a trend of cases backing down from this hardline stance. And now more recently the Attorney General has filed with the Tel-Aviv District Court, the most detailed guidelines yet produced, in its response to a case being heard there.