With the rising rate of crypto and hacks in the crypto industry, the UK's Santander bank has taken the lead to block crypto payments from next year onwards.
According to Reuters, Santander users in the UK will not be permitted to send funds to crypto exchanges starting in 2023.
In a newly released statement, Santander shared that its main motivation for blocking cryptocurrency payments was to safeguard customers against rising crypto scams.
UK bank bans crypto payments.
In a statement issued by Santander on Friday, the UK bank announced a ban on crypto payments starting in 2023.
The statement further added that Santander will no longer permit UK users to send cryptocurrency funds to exchanges or make real-time payments via cryptocurrencies using online, telephone, or in-branch banking methods.
From Santander:
We’ll be making more changes to limit or prevent payments to crypto exchanges in the future, though we’ll always let you know before we make these changes.
From November 15 onwards, the bank will join the league of other retail banks in limiting the amount of crypto a user can send to cryptocurrency exchanges.
Santander says that its clients will now be facing new restrictions of £1,000 ($1,123) per transaction and £3,000 in total in any rolling 30-day period for transfers to crypto exchanges via mobile and online banking.
The bank later clarified that its users would still be able to accept payments in cryptocurrency.
Santander said that the move was made in order to prevent consumers from falling victim to crypto fraudsters and scammers.
Santander's statement reads:
In recent months, we've seen a large increase in UK customers becoming victims of cryptocurrency fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned consumers about the risks of investing in crypto assets, as money held in customers’ crypto wallets is unlikely to be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong.
Crypto hacks are on the rise
A new chain analysis report has dubbed October as one of the worst-hit months for crypto scams and hacks.
The report detailed how hackers stole over $718 million worth of cryptocurrency in October using illegal and unethical hacking techniques.
Recently, Binance's BNB chain was exploited for $100 million, followed by Solana's Mango Markets.