Coinbase-backed group Stand With Crypto UK urged its 286,000 members to file formal complaints against UK retail banks over blanket restrictions on crypto transactions, it announced on Wednesday.
The campaign is a demonstration against nationwide banking regulations that block or restrict customer transfers to exchanges, including those registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the group said in a press release. Around 8% of UK adults hold crypto assets, according to FCA research.
Stand With Crypto based its campaign on data from the UK Cryptoassets Business Council’s “Locked Out” report from January 2026. The report examined 10 exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken, Uphold, Xapo Bank, Zumo, Wirex, OKX, Luno, Bitpanda and Gemini.
A day after the report came out, a spokesperson for HM Treasury, the country’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance, told CoinDesk that government officials expected banks to treat all businesses fairly, including crypto service providers. “We do not expect such licensed firms to be subject to account or transaction restrictions by banking service providers,” a spokesman said.
The FCA report found that UK banks block or delay 40% of all domestic crypto transactions. Over the past 12 months, 80% of these exchanges have reported an increase in the number of blocked transfers. One platform reported that banks rejected up to 1 million pounds (more than $1 million) in transactions in a single year.
Banking restrictions fall into two categories, Stand With Crypto UK said. Complete blocks are used by Chase UK, Starling, TSB, Virgin Money and Metro Bank, which stop all transfers and card payments to crypto exchanges. Hard transfer caps are set by Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Monzo, which place strict limits on the money users can transfer.
Last year, UK trading platform IG also released a damning study saying that millions of people were locked out of crypto just because of their banks’ anti-crypto stance. “Two in five (40%) UK crypto investors have had a payment blocked or delayed by their bank when trying to buy digital assets,” according to the IG report.
Advocates at SWC say these policies apply to everyone regardless of a person’s actual risk profile. They also said many of the same banks are hiring digital asset teams and exploring crypto products behind the scenes, making the retail customer blocks anti-competitive.
“People across the UK are being blocked from accessing a legal asset class because banks have chosen to impose blanket restrictions on an entire sector,” Adriana Ennab, director at Stand With Crypto UK, said in a statement. “As of today, they are formally telling their banks that these restrictions are unacceptable.”
These blocks are at odds with both local regulations and the government’s stated plans to turn the UK into a global Web3 hub, the SWC said. Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, banks are required to make payments that meet the account conditions. In January 2026, HM Treasury explicitly stated that it does not expect FCA-authorised firms to face transaction restrictions from banking providers, adding that firms must be treated fairly.
“The government has set out a vision to make the UK a global hub for digital assets and Web3,” Katie Harries, head of policy, Europe, at Coinbase, said in a statement. “That vision requires retail participation – where people every day hold and engage with crypto-assets. But the banks are stifling the crucial on-ramp from fiat (normal) money to crypto.”
