UK banks’ anti-crypto stance intensifies even as regulatory process moves forward

A crypto lobby radical said it recovered "increased hostility" from British banks, casting a shadiness implicit the planetary cryptocurrency enactment the state said it is vying for.

Jan 27, 2026, 5:23 p.m.

Even arsenic the U.K.'s crypto regulations enactment their mode done the system, astir of the country's banks are inactive blocking their customers' entree to adjacent registered crypto exchanges.

The Financial Conduct Authority's database of crypto plus companies, which certifies they conscionable the country's anti-money laundering and coercion financing regulations, present numbers 59, including exchanges similar Coinbase (COIN), Kraken and Gemini (GEMI).

Still, clients wanting to put connected those platforms are apt to find themselves stymied by their banks. In a report published Monday, lobby radical UK Cryptoasset Business Council recovered that 7 retired of the 10 apical exchanges operating successful the state comprehend accrued hostility from nationalist banks implicit the past year. The remaining 3 said things stay unchanged.

A afloat 80% of the exchanges reported an summation successful customers experiencing blocks oregon limits to slope transfers successful 2025 and 70% described the banking situation arsenic much hostile present than 12 months ago. The survey recovered that 40% of transactions were blocked oregon delayed.

"The debanking of the UK’s integer plus system is simply a large obstacle to its growth," the radical wrote successful the report. "... astir each of the large UK banks and payments services firms presently enforce broad transaction limits oregon implicit blocks to cryptoasset exchanges. This inclination is steadily worsening - with caller restrictions being implemented ..."

The FCA, which successful the past was precise restrictive erstwhile it came to crypto companies, has demonstrated much openness, and last week started consulting connected caller rules to beryllium implemented by October 2027. The roadworthy to ceremonial regularisation of cryptocurrency successful the U.K. became clearer astatine the extremity of 2025 with legislation from the Treasury that extended existing fiscal rules to screen the industry.

“If we are registered with the FCA, it should not beryllium this challenging for U.K. businesses,” 1 of the exchanges said. “As a result, we person prioritised different markets.”

One crypto speech said it observed astir $1.4 cardinal successful declined transactions successful 2025 owed to bank-side rejections.

The banks are not budging. Among the country's biggest banks, HSBC (HSBA), Barclays (BARC) and NatWest (NWG) each spot limits connected however overmuch customers tin transportation to their crypto speech accounts. Many others afloat artifact immoderate transfers, including Chase UK, Metro Bank, TSB and Starling Bank, which justifies its stance saying it is for the bully of its customers successful airy of the precocious hazard integer assets represent.

“Starling does not alteration customers to bargain oregon merchantability cryptocurrencies by debit card, slope transportation successful GBP, oregon by slope transportation successful different currencies,” a spokesperson told CoinDesk. “We’ve made this determination to assistance support our customers."

When asked if it agrees with the crypto exchanges’ cognition of a hostile environment, the slope responded saying only, "we support our policies nether changeless reappraisal and enactment that regularisation of cryptocurrency firms is presently nether reappraisal by the FCA."

A spokesperson for UK Finance, which represents much than 300 banks and fiscal services providers, told CoinDesk the enactment supports the FCA’s enactment toward regulating crypto, saying it supports stablecoins and crypto custody nether robust rules.

“There is surely nary absorption to crypto from us,” the spokesperson said. Individual banks, however, “have a work to support their customers and marque risk-based decisions astir imaginable fraud, scams and economical transgression threats.”

Several crypto exchanges contacted by CoinDesk declined to comment, with 1 saying the caution reflects regulatory and ineligible reasons.

The FCA and the Treasury declined to comment.

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The plus manager argued that without national legislation, the manufacture has 3 years to go indispensable earlier governmental winds perchance shift.