Santander UK limits crypto transactions for its customers

Multinational banking group Santander has placed a limit on all crypto transactions for its customers in the UK. The group cited cryptocurrency fraud warnings from regulators as the reason behind its decision. 

According an announcement on Nov. 3, the bank plans to protect its customers from the risks associated with investing in crypto assets, sharing that: “money held in customers’ crypto wallets is unlikely to be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong.”

In an alleged effort to shield its customers from crypto-related risks, Santander UK said it believes that the best way to protect its clients is to limit the amount of money they can send to crypto exchanges, asserting that this is, “the best way to make sure your money stays safe.”

The limitation will be enforced from Nov. 15, where customers will be restricted to a £1,000 limit per transaction, and a total limit of £3,000 a month. The bank added:

“We’ll be making more changes to limit or prevent payments to crypto exchanges in the future, though we’ll always let you know before we make these changes”

Despite the newly imposed limitation, customers will still be allowed to receive payments from cryptocurrency exchanges in their bank accounts.

Related: Santander’s UK arm follows Barclays in banning payments to Binance

The announcement was met with criticism and raised eyebrows from members of the crypto Twitter community. Bitcoin enthusiast, podcaster, and author @LayahHeilpern said, “Remember, they only ban what threatens them. If this isn’t your signal to buy I don’t know what is…”

So literally nothing new. UK banks have been slowly blocking/limiting crypto payments for over a year now, I live there, I have multiple banks here

— Brand ⚒️ (@Brand99_) November 3, 2022

Another user by the name of @alesxius shared: “Since when do they have the authority to tell you what you can and can’t do with your own money?”

Since when do they have the authority to tell you what you can and can’t do with your own money?

— Alesxius (@alesxius) November 3, 2022

In 2021, Cointelegraph reported that Santander’s U.K. banks had followed in Barclays’ footsteps in banning its customers from sending payments to Binance, citing warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority.