TL;DR
- The APPG opened an inquiry into account access and transaction restrictions affecting crypto businesses, accepting written evidence through August 31 before publishing recommendations.
- A survey of 10 exchanges found banks blocked or delayed 40% of crypto transactions, while 70% said restrictions discouraged investment, expansion, or hiring.
- The review will compare international approaches and assess whether banking barriers could undermine Britain’s October 2027 crypto framework and its broader digital-asset leadership ambitions.
The United Kingdom’s Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group has opened an inquiry into how banks treat crypto businesses seeking basic financial services. The review will examine account openings, account maintenance, and restrictions on crypto-related transfers, asking whether those controls are proportionate. The perplexing contradiction is that legitimate firms may face banking barriers while the government promotes Britain as a digital-asset leader. Written evidence from banks, payment providers, fintech companies, and crypto businesses will be accepted until August 31, after which the group plans to issue findings and recommendations across the domestic financial market.
The Crypto & Digital Assets APPG has today launched a Parliamentary Inquiry into access to banking services for the UK's crypto and digital assets sector.
The APPG is Westminster's leading cross-party group on crypto and digital assets, co-chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot… pic.twitter.com/uk3x7caV3Z
— Crypto & Digital Assets APPG (@cryptoappg) July 21, 2026
Banking Controls Face a Proportionality Test
The inquiry follows repeated complaints from the sector and a January survey involving 10 exchanges. Banks reportedly blocked or delayed 40% of transactions to crypto platforms, while 70% of respondents said restrictions reduced their willingness to invest, expand, or hire in Britain. Controls designed to contain financial risk may also be suppressing the regulated growth policymakers say they want. Eight exchanges reported more customers encountering blocked or limited transfers, seven described the banking environment as increasingly hostile, and one unnamed platform recorded nearly £1 billion, about $1.35 billion, in declined transactions over one year.
The APPG will compare British practices with approaches in the United States, Hong Kong, Australia, and the European Union. It will also consider whether banks distinguish between registered exchanges with governance and fraud controls and unlicensed offshore platforms. The central puzzle is whether blanket restrictions can still be called risk-based when they ignore material differences between businesses. Banks do carry obligations involving fraud and money laundering, while reimbursement rules for authorized push-payment fraud can expose providers to claims of up to £85,000, potentially encouraging transaction blocks instead of individualized assessment in many individual cases.
Timing gives the investigation additional weight. The Financial Conduct Authority is due to begin accepting authorization applications from crypto firms on September 30, while the country’s wider regulatory regime is scheduled to take effect on October 25, 2027. A license could become strangely hollow if approved businesses still cannot maintain reliable access to payments and bank accounts. Chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan, the APPG must now determine whether current controls protect consumers proportionately or undermine competition, innovation, investment, and the credibility of Britain’s crypto ambitions over coming years.
