UK Banks Hit With 10,000 Complaints Over Blocked Crypto Transfers in 90 Days: Report

UK financial institution clients despatched 10,092 complaints about blocked or restricted transfers to crypto exchanges over 90 days, crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto mentioned in a report printed on Tuesday.

The complaints have been filed by 9,803 folks between Could and August 2026 by a web-based instrument run by the group, and anxious transfers to platforms registered with the Monetary Conduct Authority, the UK’s monetary regulator. They got here from each one of many UK’s 650 parliamentary constituencies, the group mentioned in a tweet.

Lloyds Banking Group, which incorporates Halifax and Financial institution of Scotland, obtained essentially the most, with 2,297, or greater than 22% of the full, regardless that it has no printed coverage proscribing crypto transfers. Barclays obtained 1,569 and NatWest Group, which incorporates Royal Financial institution of Scotland, 1,278. HSBC UK additionally obtained greater than 1,000, in keeping with the report, which doesn’t give its actual whole. Virgin Cash and the Co-operative Financial institution obtained the fewest, with 103 and 76 respectively. Decrypt has reached out to Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and HSBC UK for remark.

Six banks publish limits on crypto transfers, in keeping with the report. Barclays caps them at £2,500 per transaction and £10,000 each 30 days, NatWest at £1,000 a day and £5,000 each 30 days, and Santander UK at £1,000 per transaction and £3,000 each 30 days. Starling, TSB, Chase UK, Metro Financial institution, Virgin Cash and the Co-operative Financial institution block crypto transfers solely.

“The safety of our clients’ funds is our highest precedence,” a Barclays spokesperson advised Decrypt. “Like many different banks, we have launched limits on funds to cryptocurrency exchanges to assist shield clients from crypto-related scams and losses.”

Banks that apply limits obtained 6,198 complaints, whereas these with no printed coverage, Lloyds and Revolut, obtained 2,842. Banks with outright bans obtained 989, which the report suggests could also be as a result of their clients know to not attempt.

“A buyer can’t reliably use their financial institution’s printed coverage to foretell whether or not they’ll have the ability to switch their very own cash to a crypto asset platform,” the report mentioned.

The figures are usually not weighted by every financial institution’s market share, because the variety of present accounts every gives shouldn’t be public, and clients may complain to a couple of financial institution.

The UK’s crypto regime

The report cites a 2025 FCA and YouGov survey wherein 13% of UK crypto customers mentioned they’d confronted issues withdrawing crypto to their checking account, the commonest destructive expertise reported. Its findings additionally echo a January survey by the UK Cryptoasset Enterprise Council, which estimated that banks have been blocking or delaying round 40% of transfers to the nation’s 10 largest exchanges, with one change seeing near £1 billion in declined transactions over a 12 months.

Some restrictions date again years. TSB has banned crypto purchases since 2021, and Barclays blocked crypto purchases made with its bank cards from June 2025. Reform UK chief Nigel Farage has pledged to outlaw banks from denying providers to clients over their involvement with crypto if he turns into prime minister.

Lawmakers have additionally taken up the difficulty, although their focus has largely been on crypto companies fairly than particular person clients. Parliament’s Crypto and Digital Belongings All-Celebration Parliamentary Group launched an inquiry in July into crypto companies’ entry to financial institution accounts and providers, which additionally covers the switch limits and cost blocks banks impose. In August, its co-chairs, Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan and Lord Vaizey of Didcot, wrote to the chief executives of each main UK financial institution asking how they deal with crypto companies and what limits they apply to crypto-related transactions. Entry to banking providers “could possibly be one of many single largest obstacles to development” for UK crypto companies, they warned.

Stand With Crypto referred to as on banks to interchange blanket restrictions with risk-based, case-by-case checks, to publish plain-language insurance policies on when crypto transfers could also be blocked, and to present clients a strategy to problem or choose out of controls on transfers to FCA-registered suppliers.

It additionally urged the FCA and HM Treasury to state publicly that sector-wide blocks and arduous caps on transfers to registered or approved crypto companies are unlikely to be justified by anti-fraud or monetary crime guidelines. The FCA’s crypto regime comes into drive subsequent 12 months, and companies which have secured authorization “ought to have assurance” they won’t face blanket obstacles from different regulated companies, the report mentioned.