UK Lawmakers Launch Inquiry into Crypto Banking Problems

A cross-party group of UK lawmakers has launched a parliamentary inquiry into the banking problems dogging the country's crypto industry, probing why firms struggle to open accounts and why banks curb crypto-related payments.

The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)—co-chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot, a former digital economy minister, and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan—said the inquiry comes just weeks after the UK finalized its new crypto regulatory framework, and will test whether banking barriers could undermine the Government's goal of making the country a "global leader in digital assets."

For years, the APPG said, UK crypto businesses have complained that they can't reliably open or keep bank accounts, while UK banks—among them HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Starling Bank—have restricted crypto-related payments. The inquiry will look at access to accounts and services, including insurance, along with the transfer limits and payment blocks imposed by UK banks. It will weigh whether those measures are "proportionate" and how they affect consumers, competition and innovation.

"Access to banking services is fundamental for any legitimate business, and where unnecessary barriers exist they have the potential to hinder growth, investment and innovation," Josan and Vaizey said in a joint statement. The added that it was "the right time" to examine whether remaining barriers could undermine the UK's ambitions of becoming a global leader in digital assets, ahead of its crypto regime coming into force.

Crypto and "debanking"

Research published by the UK Cryptoasset Business Council in January found banks were blocking or delaying an estimated 40% of attempted transfers to crypto exchanges, and that 70% of exchanges surveyed said the restrictions were hurting investment, expansion or hiring in the UK. The APPG's own 2023 inquiry reached similar conclusions, warning the friction risked undermining the UK's digital asset hub ambitions and calling for urgent action.

HM Treasury has since acknowledged the problem and says regulated firms shouldn't be shut out simply for operating in crypto. In March, Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby told Parliament that under the new regime, the Government "would not expect" FCA-licensed crypto firms to be "subject to restrictions by banking services providers simply because of the sector they belong to."

The APPG said it would also look abroad—at how the United States, Hong Kong, Australia and the European Union have handled crypto banking access—for lessons that might shape UK policy. Debanking has been a flashpoint in those markets, too. In the U.S., crypto firms have blamed a pressure campaign they call Operation Chokepoint 2.0 for severing their banking ties—Kraken recently won $22 million from an auditor it said abandoned it during the episode. In Australia, Coinbase has accused banks of imposing an "unlawful" regulatory ban on crypto.

The APPG is taking written evidence for six weeks, until August 31, before publishing a report with recommendations to the Government—well ahead of October 2027, when the UK's new crypto regime becomes mandatory.