Multinational banking group Santander has placed a limit on all crypto transactions for its customers in the United Kingdom. The group cited cryptocurrency fraud warnings from regulators as the reason behind its decision.
According to 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 limit will be enforced starting Nov. 15, and customers will be restricted to a 1,000 British pound limit per transaction, and a total limit of 3,000 pounds 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 limits, 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 Crypto Twitter. Bitcoin (BTC) enthusiast, podcaster and author Layah Heilpern 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, 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.