UK banks face 10,000 complaints in 3 months over crypto restrictions

More than 10,000 complaints were filed in the U.K. over bank restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions during a 90-day period between May and August, according to Stand With Crypto. For PSPs and crypto businesses, the practical point is simple: if banks block or tightly gate the fiat on-ramp, even FCA-registered venues can lose volume before the customer ever reaches the exchange.

1. Stand With Crypto said it collected 10,092 complaints from 9,800 individuals using an online tool, covering customers in all 650 parliamentary constituencies of the U.K. The group said the complaints were about bank restrictions on crypto purchases, including blanket bans, rigid limits and unclear policies.
2. Lloyds Banking Group received the most complaints, with 2,297, or 23% of the total. Barclays followed with 1,569, and NatWest Group received 1,278. The data were voluntary and were not adjusted for each bank’s share of U.K. checking accounts, so the ranking is not a clean measure of complaint rate.
3. Stand With Crypto argued that the restrictions could interfere with access to regulated exchanges and sit awkwardly alongside the U.K.’s stated aim of becoming a global cryptocurrency hub. The country first announced support for the industry in 2023, when Rishi Sunak was chancellor of the exchequer, and that stance was reiterated less than a year ago by Lucy Rigby, the economic secretary to the Treasury, under the Labour government.
4. Katie Harries, Coinbase’s head of European policy, said in an email interview that “bank transfers represent a crucial on-ramp” for funding customer accounts on the platform. She added that Coinbase is an FCA-registered crypto asset business but is still subject to the same blanket restrictions as the wider crypto asset sector.
5. Harries also cited research by the U.K. Cryptoasset Business Council indicating that 40% of attempted transfers to FCA-registered crypto businesses were blocked. For operators and their payment partners, that is the number that matters: not just account approval, but whether the bank will actually let the money move.