A parliamentary inquiry has been told that British banks are maintaining blanket restrictions even on legal bitcoin transactions.

On Aug. 24, blockchain outlet Bitcoin Magazine reported that Bitcoin Policy UK submitted evidence to an inquiry on banking access by an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on crypto and digital assets. The group said banks’ response has not improved over the past three years.

It said Britain’s practice of treating crypto as a single category means bitcoin is also affected by rules focused on unsecured tokens and issuer-dependent stablecoins. The British government has said since 2023 that banks should assess risks case by case rather than impose blanket restrictions by industry, but the industry said that principle has not been reflected.

The association said on X, formerly Twitter, "Almost three years after we first raised blanket banking restrictions with the City Minister, our evidence to the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG inquiry shows the problem hasn’t improved." It added, "Roughly 40 percent of bank-to-exchange transfers in the UK are currently blocked or delayed."

It added that Virgin Money, Metro Bank, Starling Bank, TSB and Chase UK are fully blocking transfers to exchanges and card payments. Barclays and HSBC are limiting transfers to 2,500 pounds ($3,310) per transaction, it said.

The restrictions are affecting businesses as well as individual investors. A joint survey released in January 2025 by the Startup Coalition, the UK Cryptoasset Business Council and Global Digital Finance found that half of UK fintech and crypto companies that responded were refused bank accounts or had existing accounts closed. The share that opened and maintained an account at one of the nine largest banks in the UK was 14 percent.

The impact is worsening for exchanges as well. The association said 80 percent of exchanges said regulation had tightened further over the past year, and none reported improvement. An IG Group survey in August 2025 found that 40 percent of actively trading crypto investors had experienced payment blocks or delays from their bank.

The association also presented four demands to the parliamentary inquiry. These include a statement by regulators that blanket restrictions should not be applied to bitcoin activity through exchanges registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), an obligation for banks to explain specific reasons for refusal and set up an appeals process, recognition of FCA registration as a risk-assessment benchmark as in Hong Kong, and the introduction of indicators to regularly disclose the level of restrictions.

The situation is also linked to the British government's message on fostering the industry. Lucy Rigby (루시 릭비), the City minister, mentioned in December last year that Britain could compete with the United States and become an international crypto hub. This is expected to put focus on how the outcome of the parliamentary inquiry will change banks’ internal controls and regulatory interpretation related to bitcoin.

"Almost three years after we first raised blanket banking restrictions with the City Minister, our evidence to the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG inquiry shows the problem hasn’t improved. Roughly 40 percent of bank-to-exchange transfers in the UK are currently blocked or delayed. We’re…"