Are Banks Killing UK Crypto Hub’s Ambition?

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Cryptocurrency

According to a report, UK banks are increasingly denying cryptocurrency firms access to their services.

Although Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks has pledged to turn the UK into a global crypto hub – made as Chancellor last year – it looks like it’s getting harder and harder to start a business. Web3 in the country.

Bloomberg interviewed several people in the crypto industry who said traditional banking players were rejecting requests, freezing accounts and demanding more documentation about how they monitor customer transactions.

The British banking reaction was more acute than that of the EU, said Tom Duff-Gordon, vice president of international policy at Coinbase.

The European Union is introducing Crypto-Asset Marketplace (MiCA) legislation, which Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte told BusinessCloud will be to crypto-assets what GDPR was to private life.

Applying to all 27 member states and slated for a final vote this month, the legislation requires crypto firms to keep the public informed about their pricing process and real-time trading volumes, and settle all trades on time. same day.

Following the collapse of the stablecoin and the Terra ecosystem last year, and the bankruptcy of other leading cryptocurrency companies, including the FTX exchange, MiCA will apply rules and limitations on stablecoin issuers, and will require exchanges to segregate their own funds from those belonging to their customers.

The path to this legislation would have allowed for a calmer reaction from crypto firms by EU banks.

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In the UK, the government is looking to create crypto regulations closer to those seen in traditional finance. However, several banks are now preventing their retail customers from making crypto investments, or imposing a limit on such investments – an approach that now appears to extend to corporate finance.

There are not many options available [in the UK]: Most traditional banks will not offer banking services to crypto businesses, Edouard Daunizeau, CEO of London-based crypto investment firm SavingBlocks, told Bloomberg.

With the recent series of events, it will be even more difficult. We are looking for licenses in France, where we think it will be easier.

Last month, trade association CryptoUK wrote to key government figures and regulators proposing a whitelist of registered companies. Its motive is to prevent banks from imposing blanket bans on transactions with crypto companies and instead take a risk-based, case-by-case approach.

Last week, the UK government pledged to vigorously regulate crypto as part of its plans to tackle economic crime. A Treasury and Home Office guidance document said the steps underline its ambition to make the UK an attractive destination for crypto-assets and crypto-asset innovation in the challenging world. , effective regulation of crypto-assets benefits everyone, including consumers and businesses.

Cryptocurrency Shorts

Budget Argentinian airline Flybondi plans to issue NFTs for all tickets by expanding its partnership with TravelX. It will allow passengers to change names, transfer or sell tickets attached to NFTs independently of the airline.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a $258 billion racketeering suit accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to back cryptocurrency Dogecoin via tweets, Reuters reports.

Exchange Bittrex must end its operations in the United States due to “the current US regulatory and economic environment…regulatory requirements are often unclear and enforced without proper discussion or input, resulting in an uneven competitive landscape” .

Singapore-based payments provider Alchemy Pay has raised $10m from market maker DWF Labs at a valuation of $400m.

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Crypto prices

The aggregate market capitalization of the 23,100 coins is $1.16 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), down 2.4% in the last 24 hours.

For summaries of recent developments in cryptocurrency news, click here.

For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price changes, see below.

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