Stand With Crypto UK launches complaint campaign against banks blocking crypto transfers

The Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto UK has instructed its 286,000 members to file formal complaints with their banks over blanket restrictions on payments to cryptocurrency exchanges. 

Banks in the UK are restricting or outright denying service to cryptocurrency exchanges and users, despite building internal digital asset teams, leading to questions about the intent of their actions. 

Why are UK banks blocking crypto payments if it is legal?

The UK Cryptoassets Business Council (UKCBC) recently reported that British banks currently block or delay nearly 40% of all domestic cryptocurrency transactions. The number of UK adults currently holding crypto assets has doubled to 8% since four years ago. 

Now, the “Your Money. Your Choice” campaign, organized by the Coinbase-backed advocacy group, Stand With Crypto UK, is mobilizing these thousands of customers to formally demand answers from their banks. 

While owning crypto is legal in the UK, banks claim the delays are to protect customers from fraud and financial crime. Critics argue that the banks are applying “blanket bans” that punish all customers, even those using perfectly legal and regulated exchanges. The policies also apply regardless of an individual customer’s risk profile. 

HM Treasury, the UK’s finance ministry, has stated that it expects all businesses to be treated fairly. A spokesperson recently told reporters that the government “would not expect such licensed firms [crypto companies] to be subject to account or transaction restrictions” simply because of the sector they are in.

Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, banks must execute payments that meet account conditions. 

Despite this, data from the “Locked Out” report published in January 2026 shows that eight out of ten crypto platforms said the number of rejected bank transfers had increased over the prior 12 months. One exchange reported banks had turned away up to 1 million pounds in customer transactions in a single year.

Stand With Crypto’s manifesto notes that eight out of ten high street banks maintain blanket bans or limits on transfers to crypto asset exchanges, even those authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Banks like Chase UK, Starling, TSB, Virgin Money, and Metro Bank have enforced total bans and block all transfers and card payments to crypto exchanges entirely while banks like Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, and Monzo allow transfers but enforce strict limits on how much customers can send.

How does the controversy in the UK relate to the U.S. ‘Operation Choke Point’ fight?

The fight between British cryptocurrency users and banks is similar to the Operation Choke Point 2.0 that took place in the U.S. 

The situation differs slightly because during Operation Choke Point 2.0, crypto advocates accused federal banking regulators under the Biden administration of pressuring banks to cut ties with digital asset companies through informal threats and guidance. 

Subcommittee Chairman Dan Meuser revealed during a February 2025 hearing before the House Financial Services Committee that the FDIC threatened formal supervisory actions to pressure banks into denying digital asset firms, their employees, and even their customers service.

However in the UK, the pressure is coming from the banks themselves as they claim they are making independent commercial decisions based on risk assessments regarding fraud and money laundering. 

Katie Harries, Coinbase’s head of European policy, pointed out that the banks’ actions were contradictory because the Government already publicized its intentions to make the UK a global hub for digital assets. “That vision requires retail participation. But the banks are choking off the crucial on-ramp from fiat money into crypto.” She said. 

Advocates also note that several of these same banks are building their own internal digital asset teams to explore crypto products. Stand With Crypto UK has raised questions about whether these retail customer blocks are truly for safety, or if they are an anti-competitive strategy to eliminate rival services.

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