UK banks to ban crypto transactions

Due to an increase in fraud and scams, JP Morgan‘s British retail bank, Chase, has announced that as of October 16 all cryptocurrency transactions by customers will be prohibited.

According to a company spokesperson, this was disclosed on Tuesday and that the bank was “committed to helping keep our customers’ money safe and secure.”

Reuters quotes the bank as saying, “We’ve seen an increase in the number of crypto scams targeting UK consumers, so we’ve taken the decision to prevent the purchase of crypto assets on a Chase debit card or by transferring money to a crypto site from a Chase account. “.

Although several other British banks have imposed limitations on transactions involving cryptocurrencies, this action represents one of the first outright bans on the asset.

Consumer losses due to cryptocurrency fraud have increased by 40% in the last year, according to data from the British fraud reporting agency Action Fraud, surpassing £300m for the first time.

Since launching the mobile app-based service in Britain two years ago, JP Morgan has gained more than 1 point six million customers to its Chase retail bank. The company plans to gradually roll out the consumer bank in other international markets.

In March, NatWest (NWG) was reported by Reuters. In an effort to safeguard customers from “crypto-criminals,” L) imposed new restrictions on the daily and monthly amounts that users can send to cryptocurrency exchanges. “.

Spanish bank Santander announced last year that as part of its efforts to safeguard customers from fraud, it would prevent UK customers from sending real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.