UK bank bans cryptocurrency amid fraud concerns with Binance and Kraken

TSB Banking Group Plc. is set to ban more than 5 million customers from buying cryptocurrencies amid fears over "excessively high" fraud rates on trading platforms, according to a report by the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper.

The company is the latest British bank to crack down on financial cyber-crime following temporary moves by Barclays Plc, Monzo Bank and Starling Bank to block transfers of cash to cryptocurrency trading platforms, such as Binance, in recent weeks.

TSB will look to block crypto purchases where it spots fraudulent abuse of trading platforms and a ban will be introduced within weeks, according to the newspaper. The bank estimates that around one in eight payments to crypto trading platforms ended up with fraudsters, compared with one in 5,500 involving non-crypto transfers.

The bank said around two thirds of all crypto frauds hitting its customers were linked to the Binance platform, with 849 instances of customers losing money to scammers with Binance accounts in a single month between March 15 and April 15.


Date: 20.06.2021 [365]