The Coinbase-backed group Stand With Crypto UK has asked its 286,000 members to file formal complaints against British retail banks over blanket restrictions on crypto transactions, it announced Wednesday.
The campaign is a demonstration against national banking rules that block or limit customer transfers to exchanges, including those registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the group said in a press release. According to FCA research, around 8% of UK adults own crypto assets.
Stand With Crypto based its campaign on data from the UK Cryptoassets Business Council’s “Locked Out” report from January 2026. The report surveyed 10 exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken, Uphold, Xapo Bank, Zumo, Wirex, OKX, Luno, Bitpanda and Gemini.
A day after that report was published, a spokesperson for HM Treasury, the country’s economy and finance ministry, told CoinDesk that government officials expected banks to treat all businesses fairly, including crypto service providers. “We would not expect such authorized businesses to be subject to account or transaction restrictions by banking service providers,” a spokesperson said.
The FCA report found that British banks block or delay 40% of all domestic crypto transactions. In the last 12 months, 80% of these exchanges reported an increase in the number of blocked transfers. One platform reported that banks rejected up to 1 million pounds (more than 1 million dollars) in transactions in a single year.
Banking restrictions fall into two categories, Stand With Crypto UK said. Chase UK, Starling, TSB, Virgin Money and Metro Bank use full blocks, which stop all transfers and card payments to crypto exchanges. Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Monzo have strict limits on transfers, which impose strict limits on the money users can transfer.
Last year, UK-based trading platform IG also published a damning survey that said millions of people were being locked out of access to cryptocurrencies just because of their banks’ anti-crypto stance. “Two in five (40%) UK cryptocurrency investors have had a payment blocked or delayed by their bank when trying to purchase digital assets,” according to the IG report.
SWC advocates say these policies apply to everyone, regardless of an individual’s actual risk profile. They also said that many of these same banks are hiring digital asset teams and exploring crypto products behind the scenes, making retail client blocks anti-competitive.
“People across the UK are being prevented from accessing a legal asset class because banks have chosen to impose blanket restrictions on an entire sector,” Adriana Ennab, director of Stand With Crypto UK, said in a statement. “Starting today they will formally communicate to their banks that these restrictions are unacceptable.”
These blocks go against both local rules and the government’s stated plans to make the UK a global Web3 hub, SWC said. Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, banks are required to execute payments that comply with account conditions. In January 2026, HM Treasury explicitly stated that it does not expect FCA-authorized firms to face restrictions on transactions from banking providers, adding that firms should 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 European policy at Coinbase, said in a statement. “That vision requires retail participation, where every day people own and interact with crypto assets. But banks are choking off the crucial onramp from (regular) fiat money to cryptocurrencies.”
