British bankers were accused of blocking 40% of transfers to crypto exchanges, 2026/01/27 06:48:57

The UK’s largest banks are blocking or delaying about 40% of payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, the UK Crypto Assets Council (UK CBC) said.

The organization interviewed representatives of the 10 largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, including foreign ones – Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Gemini,  Bitpanda. 80% said there had been a significant increase in problems with UK customer deposits over the past year. Crypto exchanges are concerned: blocking bank transfers raises concerns about access to financial services for participants in the digital asset market.

Seven out of ten surveyed representatives of crypto platforms called the British market one of the most difficult in the world in terms of access to banking services. Crypto exchanges complain that payments are often blocked without explanation, including to companies authorized to operate by the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

One of the unnamed interlocutors of UK CBC said that the volume of transactions rejected by banks to its platform over the past year exceeded 1 billion pounds sterling – and these are only the transactions that the exchange system managed to see.

Exchanges named seven British banks that completely block transfers to cryptocurrency platforms: Virgin Money, Metro Bank, Starling Bank, TSB and Chase UK. Institutions such as Barclays and HSBC UK are letting payments through but limiting transaction volumes, UK told CBC.

Late last year, Kraken’s CEO complained that tight regulation in the United Kingdom was discouraging residents from trading cryptocurrencies. This is confirmed by the figures – if in 2024 12% of the UK adult population owned digital assets, then in 2025 the share dropped to 8%.