Retirement BTC Gains Refused by Israeli Bank

Esther Freeman, an elderly retiree, earned $273,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), but Israel’s Hapoalim Banks refused to accept it. The bank claims that due to regulatory requirements, it is unable to take the money. Since 2021, Esther Freeman have been engaged in legal conflict with the Hapoalim Bank on the ambiguity surrounding crypto rules.

American Israeli Bank

A two-year-old disagreement between Freeman and Israel’s second-largest commercial bank was ultimately resolved. The settlement should include the payment of each party’s own legal expenses. The agreement’s precise details are not yet known, though. Freeman, a 40-year Hapoalim Bank client, filed a lawsuit against the financial institution in 2021 after it turned down her request to deposit her Bitcoin income. Since she originally bought Bitcoin in 2013, Freeman’s principal capital amount had surged more than a hundredfold. 2013 saw Freeman use a third party to invest 10,000 shekels (about $2,700) in Bitcoin (BTC). Electronic asset markets were not very common at the time. So, unlike today, Freeman could not just buy her Bitcoins from a cryptocurrency exchange.

Why Did the Bank Turn Down Deposits?

The bank defended itself by claiming that it was unable to take the money in accordance with its rules. In addition, Freeman’s Btc acquisition at the time was done by an individual using cash rather than a regulated or supervised business. In accordance with the legislation, banks must carry out adequate risk analyses, set up procedures, and monitor a digital asset’s progression from purchase to fiat money. Only when purchasing and selling digital money occur from the same account can the bank approve such deposits. The bank refused to take Freeman’s Bitcoin profits for this reason. The Banking Regulatory Department of the Bank of Israel released a draft regulation in response to a surge in consumer transactions utilizing digital assets like Bitcoin last year. This was done in an effort to allay worries about stopping the funding of terrorism and money laundering. The nation has confiscated $1.7 million in cryptocurrencies from wallets supporting the Iranian Hezbollah terrorist organization as part of its campaign against cryptocurrency laundering of funds and terrorist financing. The BTC account used by the extremist groups Hamas with the Islamic State were seized by Israeli authorities in May 2023.