After Barclays, Santander Blocks Payments to Binance

Key Takeaways

Santander has become the second U.K. bank to block transfers to Binance.
U.K. banks are taking an increasingly hostile stance against cryptocurrencies.
Binance is rumored to be hiring a former regulator in the U.K. to help with compliance.

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Santander has become the second U.K. bank to inform customers that it will no longer allow payments to Binance. 

Another U.K. Bank Blocks Binance

Santander, one of the U.K.’s biggest banks, has informed customers that it will be stopping payments from Santander accounts to Binance “wherever possible.”

The bank sent an email to customers informing them of the decision Thursday.

Santander U.K. stopping payments to Binance “for your protection” 😂 wtf?!

Seems to be a coordinated effort against @Binance in the U.K. pic.twitter.com/ChXdD2ZUvc

— Bitcoin Archive 🗄🚀🌔 (@BTC_Archive) July 8, 2021

In the email, Santander said that it would be stopping payments “wherever possible” to protect customers from fraud and keep their money safe. The email also cited a recent consumer warning from the Financial Conduct Authority, which stated that Binance was not authorized to trade crypto derivatives in the U.K. 

The same FCA warning was also referenced by U.K. bank Barclays when informing customers that it would also start blocking payments to Binance earlier this week. However, like Barclays, Santander has assured customers that it won’t be restricting customers from withdrawing funds from Binance to their accounts. 

Santander joins the growing list of U.K. banks that have put restrictions on crypto-related activities. Along with Barclays’ ban on Binance, NatWest has capped the amount of money account holders can transfer to crypto exchanges. HSBC also banned clients from buying MicroStrategy stock on its trading platform due to its exposure to Bitcoin. With complaints of crypto scams soaring, U.K. banks are taking an increasingly hostile stance towards crypto assets.

In response to the recent slew of regulatory troubles, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao published a blog post addressing the recent crackdowns and outlining future plans. In the post, he said: 

“We hope to clarify and reiterate our commitment to partner with regulators and that we are proactively hiring more talent, putting in place more systems and processes to protect our users.”

Binance is rumored to be hiring an ex-regulator or government official in the U.K. Doing so will help the exchange appease regulators, similar to when it hired the former head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks. Brooks is the current CEO of Binance.US. 

Disclaimer: The author held ETH and BTC at the time of writing this article.

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