Update [10.42 a.m. UTC]: This article has been updated to include comments from Santander denying the allegations that U.K. users are deliberately being blocked from making deposits into their Coinbase accounts. Santander: “We do not block payments to any legitimate company” Some online users have accused major Spanish bank Santander of blocking United Kingdom customers from depositing their fiat funds to major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. An unverified source posting to Reddit on Aug. 14 claims to have been informed of the development over the phone by a Santander representative. However, a Santander U.K. spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the bank has …

Binance’s fiat-to-crypto conversion branch for euros and British pounds, Binance Jersey, has entered into a partnership with the crypto investment service Caspian, which provides trading, portfolio and risk management on its platform. Caspian shared news of the partnership with Cointelegraph on Aug. 14. The partnership will purportedly result in improved security for crypto investors, as well as a lower barrier to entry for the crypto market. The managing director of Caspian Chris Jenkins elaborated: “I am delighted for us to partner with Binance Jersey, a substantial step forward in helping move the wide adoption of cryptocurrency trading forward for the …

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld its complaint against a Bitcoin advertisement from top crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX. According to an ASA announcement dated Aug. 14, the watchdog has taken issue with the purportedly misleading nature of a graph showing Bitcoin (BTC) price performance in a newspaper ad from January of this year. ASA says it received 4 complaints As the ASA outlines, the ad in question comprised a double spread of a logarithmic graph showing the value of Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar over the past decade. Alongside the graph, BitMEX’s ad included two texts: first, …

British banking giant Barclays has reportedly cut ties with United States crypto exchange Coinbase. As Coindesk reported on Aug. 13, unnamed industry sources have said that Barclays will no longer be banking for Coinbase, severing a relationship that began when Coinbase opened a Barclays account in March 2018. The news is expected to hit the crypto community hard, as, in addition to linking a major crypto exchange with a heavy hitter among the traditional banking establishment, the break may end Coinbase users’ access to the United Kingdom’s Faster Payments Scheme and slow the exchange of cryptocurrencies for British pounds sterling …

The United Kingdom has long been a financial mecca. Ever since the Big Bang and the arrival of Thatcherism in the ‘80s, Britain has cultivated a finance-friendly environment revolving around the city of London, with deregulation inviting a wave of foreign investment and trading activity. However, while it has even been suggested that London will overtake San Francisco as the fintech unicorn capital of the world, the U.K. has been less welcoming of crypto than it has of traditional finance. As industry bodies like CryptoUK as well as other commentators have complained, the lack of regulatory clarity and the presence …

The United Kingdom pension and welfare agency has identified blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) as technologies that could disrupt the payments industry. In an Aug. 9 blog post, Richard Laycock, the deputy director of digital payments and banking systems at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) — an agency that manages the U.K.'s welfare and pension policies — said that the DWP is looking to transform its payments infrastructure. In a bid to make its payment system “efficient, modern, fast, scalable, flexible, innovative and available 24/7,” the DWP is monitoring blockchain and DLT as possible disruptors to the …

United Kingdom-based customers of Coinbase are reportedly being informed that the exchange will be dropping support for the privacy-focussed Zcash as of Aug. 26, 2019. The same does not appear to apply to United States or European Union customers, however, prompting speculation on the reasoning behind the move. Convert, send, or be liquidated The communication being sent to customers gives a number of options on how to proceed. Option one, any Zcash held on Coinbase can be converted into any other cryptocurrency on the exchange. Option two, simply send the Zcash to an external wallet or another exchange. Failing either …

Back in 2016, there was a referendum that caused Brexit, which has since been affecting all spheres of British life. Would Brexit’s effects be positive or negative for the fintech industry in the United Kingdom? We asked experts from the London Fintech Week, the U.K. in a Changing Europe, the University of Nottingham and more. Meanwhile — and this should be underlined — a lot of experts declined to give comments on such a politically sensitive topic. While the U.K.’s government was trying to deal with Brexit, with numerous negotiations taking place during 2018, the European Union has made a …

A subsidiary of United States-based stock and crypto trading app Robinhood has been approved to operate as a broker in the United Kingdom. Robinhood coming to the UK Robinhood International, a Robinhood subsidiary, has received regulatory approval from major British regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to a blog post on Aug. 7. The FCA approval will allow the firm to bring its investing platform to British customers, Robinhood said in the report, adding that the move would be a critical step on its path to democratizing finance for all. According to the post, the Robinhood team in London …

The United Kingdom’s tax, payments and customs authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), has reportedly requested that digital currency exchanges provide it with information about customers’ names and transactions aiming to identify cases of tax evasion. Crypto exchanges come under fire According to fintech-focused media outlet Coindesk, industry sources said that the agency has sent letters to at least three crypto exchanges in the U.K., including Coinbase, eToro and CEX.io, requesting that they provide lists of users and transaction data. HMRC is reportedly aiming to cooperate with crypto exchanges in a bid to identify individuals who evade taxes. According …

The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has requested, along with a number of other jurisdictions, that the companies in the Libra Association provide details on how they plan to protect user data. The ICO has released a joint statement on global privacy expectations of the Libra network on Aug. 5 that is addressed to Facebook and 28 other organizations behind the Libra and Calibra projects. The letter specifically asks the companies to explain how they plan to collect and process users’ personal data according to data protection laws. The letter notes that the Libra Association will become a custodian …

A Justice of the High Court of England and Wales has dismissed a libel lawsuit against Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponent and Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver. Justice Matthew Nicklin of the Queen’s Bench Division threw out the case earlier this week, according to a decision published on July 31. Back in May, Craig Wright — an Australian computer scientist who claims he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin — served Ver with a libel suit in London. Wright accused Ver of calling him a fraud and a liar, among other things. Justice Nicklin wrote: “The Claimant has not satisfied me …