Bitcoin Policy UK has criticised British banks for imposing broad restrictions on legitimate bitcoin activities. The organization stated in an announcement on Friday that it had provided evidence to the parliamentary inquiry of the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG regarding banking access, indicating that there have been no advancements in the treatment of bitcoin activity by banks over the past three years. The issue at hand is that UK policy categorises “crypto” as a singular entity, resulting in bitcoin being subjected to regulations originally designed for unbacked tokens and issuer-dependent stablecoins. The British government has indicated since 2023 that banks ought to evaluate situations individually rather than impose restrictions based on sector.
The group asserts that practice has not kept pace, resulting in a widening gap as the UK progresses toward the full implementation of its cryptoasset regime by 2027. Bitcoin Policy UK has urged British banks to provide justifications for their refusal to engage in bitcoin-related activities. “Almost three years after we first raised blanket banking restrictions with the City Minister, our evidence to the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG inquiry shows the problem hasn’t improved,” Bitcoin Policy UK said in a Sunday post on X. “Roughly 40% of bank-to-exchange transfers in the UK are currently blocked or delayed.” The organization submitted evidence to the inquiry conducted by the Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group regarding banking access.
A joint survey conducted by the Startup Coalition, the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, and Global Digital Finance, released in January 2025, revealed that 50% of the UK fintech and crypto firms surveyed had either been denied a bank account or had an existing account closed. Furthermore, only 14% managed to open and maintain an account with one of the nine largest banks in the country. Most were operations based in the UK rather than firms lacking a domestic presence. Virgin Money, Metro Bank, Starling Bank, TSB, and Chase UK have implemented outright blocks on transfers and card payments. In contrast, Barclays and HSBC have set a cap on transfers at £2,500 per transaction, according to Bitcoin Policy UK. It was noted that 80% of the exchanges reported an increase in restrictions compared to the previous year. None reported an improvement.
An IG Group survey from August 2025 revealed that 40% of active crypto investors experienced a payment that was either blocked or delayed by their respective banks. The submission outlines four key requests: a regulatory statement indicating that bitcoin activity via an FCA-registered exchange should not be subjected to blanket restrictions; an obligation for banks to provide specific justifications along with an appeals process; assurance that FCA registration can be utilised as a risk basis, similar to the approach in Hong Kong; and the establishment of a publicly available periodic measure of restriction levels. In December, City Minister Lucy Rigby asserted that Britain can “without a doubt” compete with the United States and establish itself as an international hub for cryptoassets.
