NatWest bank limits clients’ transactions to crypto exchanges

The NatWest bank has limited the amount UK clients can send to cryptocurrency exchanges per day due to concerns over investment scams and fraud.

The Natwest Group has capped the amount its clients can send to cryptocurrency exchanges per day. This comes as a move from the bank to curb cryptocurrency investment scams and fraud.

Reuters revealed this yesterday, stating that the bank is concerned about the numerous investment scams and frauds in the cryptocurrency space. However, the report didn’t reveal how much the bank has set as the daily limit to its clients.

Natwest bank imposed the temporary limit on 24 June, and the restriction is affecting numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance. A spokesperson for the bank said Natwest had to take the measures because it is seeing numerous crypto investment scams targeting its customers.

“To protect our customers from the criminals exploiting these platforms, we’re temporarily reducing the maximum daily amount that a customer can send to cryptocurrency exchanges as well as blocking payments to a small number of cryptocurrency asset firms where we have seen particularly significant levels of fraud-related harm for our customers,” the spokesperson added.

The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is currently tightening regulations in the cryptocurrency space. The regulator warned Binance that it doesn’t have the permission to carry out regulated activities in the country.

Following this development, Huobi, another leading cryptocurrency exchange, suspended its UK clients from accessing its derivative services. Huobi said the situation could change if there is a change in the region’s regulatory stance.

Binance, on its part, suspended the local payments provider, Faster Payments, for its UK clients. The move has limited the number of options traders have to move GBP to and from the trading platform.