Crypto-friendly banks in the UK

Cryptocurrency has grown in popularity in the past couple of years. However, investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky business. There is extreme price volatility and little protection for your money. As a result, several UK banks don’t allow any transfer to cryptocurrency exchanges. We’ve done our research and found the UK’s most crypto-friendly banks – and the banks that continue to ban any form of crypto transaction.

What is a crypto-friendly bank?

A crypto-friendly bank is one that places almost no restrictions on interactions with cryptocurrency exchanges. Essentially, if you are a customer at a crypto-friendly bank, you will be able to do the following:

• Purchase cryptocurrency using your debit card
• Make payments to a crypto exchange
• Withdraw money from your crypto wallet and deposit it in your current account

While certainly not all banks are crypto-friendly, the relationship between banks and cryptocurrency platforms has definitely improved over the years. Whereas crypto investors used to sometimes have funds frozen or their accounts closed when transferring money to a cryptocurrency exchange, this very rarely happens now.

Which UK banks are the most crypto-friendly?

We examined the major banks in the UK – both traditional and challenger banks – to see which were the most crypto-friendly.

Traditional banks

Nationwide

A building society, not a bank, Nationwide is largely positive towards cryptocurrency transactions. You can use your debit card to buy crypto, make transfers to an exchange or cash out your crypto investments to your current account. The only restriction in place is that you won’t be able to make a transfer to Binance as this exchange has been banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Verdict: Is Nationwide crypto-friendly? Yes

Barclays

Barclays sits with several other traditional banks with its approach to cryptocurrency. Its stance is that payments aren’t allowed to certain exchanges due to the high number of scams. However, other than Binance, it’s not clear exactly which exchanges are restricted. It’s largely done on a payment by payment basis, depending on which exchange presents the highest risk at that time.

Verdict: Is Barclays Bank crypto-friendly? Mixed

Lloyds Bank

Lloyds Bank is relatively crypto-friendly. It allows its customers to make payments to crypto exchanges using their debit card or current account, but credit card payments are restricted. Due to the price volatility in the cryptocurrency market, buying crypto with your credit card is extremely risky. So it’s not a surprise that a lot of banks don’t allow this.

Verdict: Is Lloyds Bank crypto-friendly? Mixed

Bank of Scotland

As part of the Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland has exactly the same attitude towards cryptocurrency exchanges as Lloyds Bank. Current accounts and debit cards can be used but credit card payments are restricted.

Verdict: Is Bank of Scotland crypto-friendly? Mixed

NatWest & Royal Bank of Scotland

NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland are clear in the information they provide customers. Both banks have a dedicated page on their websites answering questions on all things cryptocurrency. When it comes to whether or not they are crypto-friendly, that’s a bit of a mixed bag. They both restrict payments to cryptocurrency exchanges that present the highest financial risk. Debit cards can be used with some exchanges, but the banks may still restrict certain purchases if there has been a high volume of scams reported relating to that exchange.

Verdict: Are NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland crypto-friendly? Mixed

Challenger banks

Revolut

Revolut is so positive about cryptocurrency that it even has its own cryptocurrency platform within its app. But that doesn’t mean it discriminates against other cryptocurrency exchanges. Customers are eligible for up to a maximum of $100,000 per single cryptocurrency exchange and 100 exchanges per any 24-hour period. Revolut is is not a bank yet, but as a banking app it is one of the most crypto-friendly.

Verdict: Is Revolut crypto-friendly? Yes

Monzo

Monzo says that its customer can use a range of cryptocurrency exchanges as part of their personal banking. It does caveat saying that from time to time it may block a small number of transactions based on risk, but overall it can be considered crypto-friendly.

Verdict: Is Monzo crypto-friendly? Yes

Which UK banks aren’t crypto-friendly?

It won’t be a surprise to learn that there are quite a few UK banks that aren’t crypto-friendly. By this we mean they don’t allow their customers to directly transfer funds to a cryptocurrency exchange or allow debit cards to be used for the purchase of cryptocurrency.

Based on our research, these banks are:

• First Direct
• Metro Bank
• Halifax
• HSBC
• Santander
• Starling Bank
• The Co-operative Bank
• TSB Bank
• Virgin Money

Why don’t some banks allow crypto transactions?

Cryptocurrency is considered to be a very high risk and speculative investment. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has gone as far as to say, if you invest in cryptoassets, you should be prepared to lose all your money. There is also the fact that the crypto market is unregulated in the UK.

As a result, a lot of banks don’t want to expose their customers to potential scams or fraud by allowing them to make crypto transactions. This is why some restrict payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, while others have banned them entirely.

Bottom line

There seems to be a difference between the traditional high street banks and the challenger banks. If you are a keen crypto enthusiast, then the most crypto-friendly bank or banking app in the UK appears to be Revolut. It allows customers to interact with crypto exchanges with virtually no restrictions and will even allow cardholders to use their crypto funds when making debit card payments.

If you are interested in investing in crypto, beyond finding a crypto-friendly bank, you should also consider which crypto exchange to use. To help you out, we’ve listed our best crypto exchanges in the UK. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, it’s important to find an exchange that meets your cryptocurrency needs.