Chase UK, the British retail banking subsidiary of JPMorgan, will bar its customers from making any crypto transactions from next month onwards.
In a Tuesday email to clients, reported by the Associated Press, the bank said it would decline any transactions made by debit card, credit card or bank transfer related to crypto assets.
“If you’d still like to invest in crypto assets, you can try using a different bank or provider instead — but please be cautious, as you may not be able to get the money back if the payment ends up being related to fraud or a scam,” read the message to clients.
A spokesperson for the bank told AP that the decision was motivated by the bank’s desire to keep customer money safe, pointing to an increase in crypto fraud-related losses reported by UK regulators in 2022.
Chase joins Britain’s Natwest in restricting crypto transactions on the back of statements from the country’s regulators. Earlier this year, Natwest imposed a daily limit of 1,000 pounds and a monthly limit of 5,000 pounds that customers could transfer to crypto exchanges, as part of its measures to protect clients from “crypto-criminals.”
Last year, the UK subsidiary of Santander said it would block customers from sending real-time payments to crypto exchanges for the same reasons at some point this year.
https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1706787540215460155
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong dubbed Chase’s move “totally inappropriate” and called for UK crypto holders to close their accounts with the bank.
“Really hoping there is more to this story than meets the eye, and that this does not reflect Chase UK’s actual view,” said Armstrong on X.
