Spanish bank Santander has apparently put a block on UK customers trying to deposit fiat funds to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, while Barclays has also cut ties with the exchange.
The news emerged from an unverified source posting on Reddit on 14th August, who claimed a Santander representative had told them of the block during a phone call.
Specifically, the poster said:
“Just got off the phone with a Santander rep in the U.K. who informed me they will no longer be allowing their customers to deposit money to Coinbase.
After I put in a complaint their “complaints department” confirmed to me that I should move to an alternative bank if I wish to make the payment.
They went on to say this is likely because of an increase in fraud related to Coinbase.”
In the replies to the post, other Santander users also noted that the bank appears to be blocking withdrawals from BitStamp in Spain and Portugal, while other users reported no problems with Santander deposits or withdrawals.
The news follows reports that major British bank Barclays is also cutting ties with Coinbase – a move that could halt Coinbase users’ access to the United Kingdom’s Faster Payments Scheme, dramatically impacting British pound sterling – crypto exchanges . The crypto exchange has had an account with the bank since March 2018.
Coinbase says it will continue to access UK banking through Clear.Bank.
Just last week FortuneZ reported that Coinbase has been cleared of fraud charges relating to its Bitcoin Cash (BCH) launch.
