Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto's UK branch launched a nationwide campaign on Wednesday, urging banks to lift restrictions on transfers to crypto exchanges. According to reports from The Block, the group says the limits run counter to the country's goals of becoming a global digital asset hub. The campaign encourages its more than 286,000 registered UK advocates to file formal complaints with their banks over what it calls "blanket restrictions" on transfers to crypto exchanges. As per CoinDesk, the group is telling its members to file formal complaints against British retail banks over blanket restrictions on crypto transactions. Through a tool available on its website, Stand With Crypto allows users to generate complaint letters challenging transfer restrictions imposed by their banks, with responses received from financial institutions helping shape the next phase of the campaign.
The campaign cites findings from the UK Cryptoassets Business Council's "Locked Out" report released in January 2026. The study surveyed 10 major exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken, Uphold, Xapo Bank, Zumo, Wirex, OKX, Luno, Bitpanda and Gemini, and found that around 40% of attempted transactions from UK banks to crypto exchanges are either blocked or delayed. Over the past 12 months, 80% of exchanges reported a noticeable increase in customer friction. One exchange even reported nearly £1 billion (~$1.3 billion) in cancelled transactions in just the span of a year due to bank rejections, according to the report. IG's damning survey from last year found that two in five (40%) UK crypto investors have had a payment blocked or delayed by their bank when trying to buy digital assets.
The banking restrictions fall into two distinct categories, as reported by Stand With Crypto UK. 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 impose strict limits on the money users can transfer. According to CoinDesk, around 8% of UK adults hold cryptoassets, yet these restrictions apply regardless of individual risk profiles. Advocates argue that many of these same banks are hiring digital asset teams and exploring crypto products behind the scenes, making the retail customer blocks anti-competitive. The organization argues that many restrictions affect transfers to FCA-registered crypto exchanges operating within the UK's existing regulatory framework, with blanket transaction limits preventing consumers from accessing digital assets even when using regulated platforms.
A day after the UK Cryptoassets Business Council's report was released, a spokesperson for the HM Treasury told CoinDesk that government officials expected banks to treat all businesses fairly, including crypto services providers. "We would not expect such licensed firms to be subject to account or transaction restrictions by banking services providers," the spokesperson stated. The campaign comes as UK regulators have taken small steps toward accepting digital assets. Last week the House of Lords Financial Services Regulations Committee warned that Britain risks falling behind the U.S. and the European Union on stablecoin regulations. The FCA recently proposed allowing investment funds to allocate up to 10% of their assets to crypto exchange-traded notes, and earlier this year UK retail investors regained tax-advantaged access to crypto exchange-traded notes through the Innovative Finance ISA framework. Earlier this month, a House of Lords committee warned that certain proposed Bank of England stablecoin requirements could make pound-denominated stablecoins harder to scale commercially, while the Bank of England proposed extending settlement infrastructure operating hours to support tokenized financial markets.
