Best Crypto-Friendly Banks in the UK

Revolut is renowned for being positive in its approach to cryptocurrencies, and their customers will have no problems dealing with exchanges, no matter which level of account they hold.

Also, you have the benefit of being able to trade crypto and manage your finances in one app.

Monzo has declared itself as a crypto-friendly bank, stating that customers can use their accounts to buy and sell through crypto exchanges.

However, they do clarify that they will review exchanges and, if necessary, block access to some should they prove to be too risky.

Generally, RBS (and NatWest, which the bank also owns) is supportive of cryptocurrencies and trading.

Customers usually don’t have an issue buying and selling crypto with either a debit or credit card. However the group does restrict access to some exchanges that are seen as being riskier, so you won’t have complete freedom.

Nationwide say that they have systems in place to prevent payments that are deemed suspicious or unusual for its members. They usually allow customers to use their debit or credit cards to make payments to crypto exchanges.

If you have any problems, you should be OK to resolve them with the bank, so that you can access the trading platforms.

With TSB customers haven’t reported any problems in buying or selling on crypto platforms, unless they’re trying to make particularly large payments (which would be flagged with the bank regardless of whether it was crypto or something else).

Splitting the payments into smaller amounts, or contacting TSB customer services, should resolve any issues.

Barclays has an up-and-down history with crypto, having formed a partnership with Coinbase but then cancelled it in 2019. Despite this backtracking, the bank does generally allow payments to and from crypto exchanges, although there have been some reports of refused payments and even closed accounts. These tend to be in the minority but it’s one to be aware of.

The Lloyds Banking Group (including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and MBNA) has blocked all credit card payments to crypto exchanges since 2018.

In terms of debit card payments, it’s more hit-and-miss – sometimes the payment will sail through, and other times it will be flagged as fraud. One to probably avoid if you intend to trade regularly.

HSBC has previously claimed that it was friendly to crypto but now no longer supports deposits being made, and payments with debit and credit cards can sometimes be blocked.

It’s not strictly unfriendly but there is more chance that your payments could fail or be flagged as fraudulent, so another bank may be a preferable choice.

Starling officially has no policy preventing cryptocurrency exchange payments, although their international currency provider doesn’t support their purchase, and there may be other reasons why payments may be blocked.

Customers have reported frozen accounts in the past, so another one to avoid.