The overall picture isn’t much better:
- 40% of transfers blocked or delayed
- 80% of exchanges say it’s getting worse
- Half of firms can’t open or keep bank accounts
- 70% say UK banking is more hostile
These are lawful payments, including transfers to FCA registered platforms.
Banks still lump Bitcoin in with the riskiest parts of crypto.
Bitcoin is not crypto. It has:
- No CEO
- No issuer
- No company controlling it
- Fixed supply
- Decentralised global network
bitcoinpolicyuk (nprofile…sfsu) is calling for an end to blanket restrictions, proper risk-based decisions, and a clear reason plus a real route of appeal when a payment is blocked.
This has been getting worse for years.
So much for the UK’s ambition to be a global crypto hub.
quotingStill Locked Out of Banking
nevent1q…mln0
Bitcoin Policy UK has submitted evidence to the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG’s inquiry into banking access. We first raised blanket restrictions with the City Minister in September 2023, and the evidence gathered for this submission suggests the underlying problem has not been resolved.
Recent industry data shows roughly 40% of bank-to-exchange transfers in the UK are currently blocked or delayed, and around half of UK crypto and fintech firms have been rejected for a bank account or had one closed. Much of this restriction is applied at a sector-wide level rather than through individual risk assessment, which means Bitcoin activity is often caught by rules designed for very different, higher-risk products.
Our submission recommends that the government confirm FCA-registered Bitcoin activity shouldn’t be subject to blanket restriction, that banks give specific reasons and a route to appeal when they decline a payment, and that better data be published so progress can actually be tracked. France and Hong Kong both offer useful models for how this could work in practice.
Read the full article and see our submission:
https://bitcoinpolicy.uk/blog-1/f/bitcoin-and-crypto-still-locked-out-of-banking
Susie (npub1hwg…03sg)
