The Coinbase-backed group Stand With Crypto UK referred to as on its 286,000 members to file formal complaints in opposition to British retail banks over blanket restrictions on crypto transactions, it introduced Wednesday.
The marketing campaign is an illustration in opposition to country-wide financial institution guidelines that block or cap buyer transfers to exchanges, together with these registered with the Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA), the group mentioned in a press launch. Round 8% of UK adults maintain cryptoassets, in keeping with FCA analysis.
Stand With Crypto primarily based its marketing campaign on knowledge from the U.Okay. Cryptoassets Enterprise Council’s “Locked Out” report from January 2026. The report surveyed 10 exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken, Uphold, Xapo Financial institution, Zumo, Wirex, OKX, Luno, Bitpanda and Gemini.
A day after that report went out, a spokesperson for the HM Treasury, the nation’s financial and finance ministry, instructed CoinDesk that authorities officers anticipated banks to deal with all companies pretty, together with crypto companies suppliers. “We might not anticipate such licensed companies to be topic to account or transaction restrictions by banking companies suppliers,” a spokesperson mentioned.
The FCA report discovered that British banks block or delay 40% of all home crypto transactions. Over the previous 12 months, 80% of those exchanges reported an increase within the variety of transfers blocked. One platform reported that banks rejected as much as 1 million kilos (greater than $1 million) in transactions in a single 12 months.
The banking restrictions fall into two classes, Stand With Crypto UK mentioned. Full blocks are utilized by Chase UK, Starling, TSB, Virgin Cash and Metro Financial institution, which cease all transfers and card funds to crypto exchanges. Exhausting switch caps are set by Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Monzo, which impose strict limits on the cash customers can switch.
Final 12 months, U.Okay.-based buying and selling platform IG additionally launched a damning survey saying hundreds of thousands of individuals had been being locked out of crypto simply due to they their banks anti-crypto stance. “Two in 5 (40%) UK crypto traders have had a cost blocked or delayed by their financial institution when attempting to purchase digital belongings,” in keeping with the IG report.
Advocates at SWC say these insurance policies apply to everybody no matter a person’s precise threat profile. Additionally they mentioned that many of those similar banks are hiring digital asset groups and exploring crypto merchandise behind the scenes, making the retail buyer blocks anti-competitive.
“Individuals throughout the UK are being blocked from accessing a authorized asset class as a result of banks have chosen to impose blanket restrictions on a whole sector,” mentioned Adriana Ennab, director at Stand With Crypto UK, in an announcement. “From at present, they’re formally telling their banks that these restrictions are unacceptable.”
These blocks run counter to each native guidelines and the federal government’s acknowledged plans to make the U.Okay. a world Web3 hub, SWC mentioned. Beneath the Cost Companies Laws 2017, banks are obligated to execute funds that meet account circumstances. In January 2026, HM Treasury explicitly acknowledged it doesn’t anticipate FCA-authorized companies to face transaction restrictions from banking suppliers, including that companies should be handled pretty.
“The Authorities has set out a imaginative and prescient to make the UK a world hub for digital belongings and Web3,” mentioned Katie Harries, head of coverage, Europe, at Coinbase, in an announcement. “That imaginative and prescient requires retail participation — the place day by day individuals maintain and interact with crypto belongings. However the banks are choking off the essential on-ramp from fiat (regular) cash into crypto.”