Bitcoin Forum

What are the chances of a bank closing your account if you buy bitcoin? i have heard people say they closed down their bank account for buying bitcoin, but this might have been a few years ago. he only said they closed his account, there is no chance of them taking all the money in your account, correct?

Your best bet is probably to head over to the local section, and ask about the specific bank you're planning on using. The answer to your question will pretty much vary with country to country and with bank to bank.

Well, if this happens, the money will be locked for quite a while and you may have to answer to various questions. Only after they unlock the money it's yours again.
From what I know this kind of situations are more frequent if you sell Bitcoin ("what's the source of your money?"), but keep in mind that most banks don't like Bitcoin, are afraid of Bitcoin and some may (still!) see Bitcoin investors/users as criminals.

But as said, best is to ask about the specific bank. Some banks - very few - even advertise themselves as Bitcoin friendly.

Rules, laws are different in different nations and you can not generalize all things for all nations.

It depends

• Banks can close your accounts for many reasons: suspicious money flow; money laundering, fraudulent activities and victims file reports to police
• Trades / exchanges relate to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. It depends on local laws in your nation. Read local laws or ask it specifically in local boards or threads for your nation on the forum.

the problem is every country has a different policy. let alone a bank, and here which state bank do you mean? So we know what kind of policy they lock accounts.

I've heard of it too but it depends first, on your country and next, on the bank itself. Let's remove the first case of the bitcoin ban, there's no ban so it means that it's totally fine to buy bitcoin in that country because there's no ban.

Now the next thing shall come that if a bank in that country whether there's no law about banning it, they have the ruling to their customers that they should red flag accounts that will be used for buying bitcoin.

It's best to consult your chosen bank or do an experiment with small amount first.

Banks can freeze your account if is flagged for suspicious activity, and you won’t be able to withdraw in some cases until the situation is clarified. The flagging is normally not going to be manual, but likely Machine Learning based nowadays, and will take into account multiple aspects from the data it has on you, and other people from the entity. That means that one person may get flagged, but not another using the same bank, despite both having made TXs to/from Exchanges. On top of that, there’s the general bank policy and procedures, the country’s Central Bank directives, the country’s stand, the global or local regulations, and so on. Overall, the experience from country to country is likely rather different, with some countries being more laxed than others.

Unfortunately, from a user’s perspective, it is seemingly random on the surface, although the above are likely under the hood. We tried to list pairs of <Bank, Exchange> results on my local board (Spanish), but we don’t really have enough volume, and the cases seemed to vary from one experience to another, even using the same pair <Bank, Exchange>. Many seem to resort to proactively talking to their bank, in order to try to ensure that the TXs will go through without any hassle, which has its pros and cons, and is not going to achieve absolute certainty for all operations there on. Others wait for the problem to arise, if at all, and talk to their bank reactively, generally clearing the air after some stressful sessions.

Depends heavily on where you're from. There are some countries wherein trading with cryptocurrencies and linking it to your bank account will get you into trouble, so try to look for your country in the Local section of the forum in order to get answers from your people. We can give vague advices and answers to your question, but it's only you who knows where you're from. From where I am, bank accounts do not really meddle with cryptocurrency transactions and in fact are aligning towards integration of cryptocurrency into their financial services. This is a generalized statement from my region. It may work for you and it may not, so it's really important to seek advice from your people who already dealt with such in the past.

I think the chance is pretty low. I only hear a few bank closing account for buying cryptocurrency while others' state is neutrality. Only strict regulations can force the bank to behave in such way. Even in my country where bitcoin is not recognized by the government, people are permitted to involve in cryptocurrency

you should really post the country ure talkin bout for this to be relevant... chances are the story you have formed is false.
Banks dont like crypto its a fact... some big boys are warming upto the idea but its not main stream yet.
Your account will probably get flagged if ure trading frequently, money in and out, if ure just sending to the exchange changes are it wont come back in fiat form anytime soon so u SHOULD be ok.
Regardless its unlikely the bank will confiscate your funds unless u are linked to el chapo or stuff like that. The bank can sit on your funds indefinitely quizzing u on your source and transactions.

Maybe the reason why their bank accounts got locked is because it become suspicious, but for sure you can reclaim it since it was all yours. Also it depends on your country rules on how to handle that kind of situation.
I think a way to avoid bank freeze is by choosing alternative ways to buy bitcoin. E wallets or is sure help. Less hassle and easier transaction than a bank.

I think if you have a good, long term relationship with a bank then you will likely be OK. If you open a new account & the first thing you do is start dealing with crypto in large number ($) then you may have a problem.

Like you said, a few years back yes bank accounts were closed for users buying bitcoin in countries were the government had banned the coin, but taking your money too I don't think so!

Besides buying crypto when price was low was a risk which is paying out well now.

there is some truth to that but the problem is that we never know the whole truth in cases like this.
there have been banks in the past and even today that are scared of bitcoin and want to prevent anyone from sending their own money to a bitcoin exchange to dump it for bitcoin. so they close their clients accounts.
but there are also a lot of cases that the user was doing something shady and their activities raised a lot of red flags that led to their account closure.

if you are worried then contact your bank and a lawyer and ask them about the laws you have to follow.

I am not sure of what happens if a bank decides to close your account. What I know is that the authorities can't just take your money without a legitimate proof that you obtained them in illegitimate ways, but I think they could lock them until investigations are performed.

Depends on the regulations in your area or country.

There was a misconception of closing of accounts of crypto in Nigeria just couple of months ago, but it was just that to not transact with cryptocurrency in the banks. It's not a total ban.

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Source: https://www.coindesk.com/nigeria-central-bank-bitcoin

In my country nobody will close down your Bank account because you purchase Bitcoin, rather, if you are operating a cryptocurrencies business in Nigeria you stand the chance of your business account to be close becasue of their ban, though don't really know if that's still much effective in the country. There's something they can't ban - if you're operating a P2P transaction the government or Bank can't ban you Bank account.

As they said above it varies on which country you are in because each country has its own laws and banks always care about money laundering which should be regulated by the bank. This problem is very simple, just ask your local bank if they will allow you to buy cryptocurrency because for now, usually, they will freeze an account that has them suspect of having a large purchase, in or out of the bank. Because banks always wanted legitimate transactions, not illegal ones.

You must always aware of that matter in your country, if you don't have a choice of buying bitcoin in your country and avoid freezing your bank account, P2P exchange is the best choice for you.

Banks have their own and specific terms about that. Refer to the policy of the said bank.

And nowadays, it's not that the bank clients buy bitcoin using their cards that's why accounts are locked but if deposits came to that account are somehow become alarming, like a sudden big amount is coming regularly, it will be noticed and become a subject for investigation.

Just tell the truth during the process. Banks already know that bank accounts nowadays are being used for purchasing crypto unless they prohibited it from the start.

Depends on where you live and which bank you are using. No they won't be taking your money unless you live in a dictatorship like China or N. Korea but they may refuse to serve you in the future. In these cases they usually let you withdraw your money and kindly show you the exit door.

Depends on the bank and the country. I have heard about cases when bank decided to close customers account over suspicious activity and they sent their money to another bank account of their ex-customer within hours. If there's no law enforcement order, banks may not hold your money for long. But generally, it's better to be ready for anything, and contact your bank before you're going to withdraw a large sum from exchange.


To banks, a crypto-related transactions are as suspicious as cash transactions, and they can be fined if the government will prove that criminals used their bank for money laundering via crypto.

That's the right thing to do. Because each country has their own regulations and approach towards crypto. So no one can give you a specific answer unless you will tell where are you currently residing. It is better to ask your co-users in your local section as some of them are already old here and one way or another, some of them have had experienced dealing with your local banks. But if not, you can always use your friend google and search the bank laws in your country towards crypto. Nowadays, it is easy to get a hold of info because you can use the search engine anytime.

it all depends on government policies regarding bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general.
as an official state agency, a bank will strictly enforce the predetermined rules regarding finance. If the state bans anything related to bitcoin, including buying or selling it, then banks are one of the most important posts to find violations. so it is natural that bank accounts are frozen when it is known that there are suspicious transactions related to bitcoin.

on the other hand, if there is no prohibition from the government, then the bank does not have full authority to do so.

That's a fallacy and its a propaganda from my perspective because it's has no happened before to anyone or anybody using Bitcoin for transaction purposes, it actually this is a truth, I think it needs proper clarification or evidence, and if a particular country innate a law of banning any account that use cryptocurrency for transportation obviously it will not affect another country.

If the country banned Bitcoin and also crypto, it may make sense that every bank revealed that the money comes from exchanges or crypto selling, they can close the account. However it commonly based on the initial announcement, the user commonly accepts the notification. But about the money is back or not it may depend n the faults and also mistakes. however, the rule is a rule that should be utilized during this time.

Up until this point, I am glad that my country is still a neutral player for the bitcoin situation and crypto-related.  In my opinion, the government can make a "ban" decision if it affects economic and social trends, or disrupts the balance.  If they wanted to, there would be certain votes, and openly and transparently to the parliament.  Before the banks could do anything?  It is not like the Turkish story, the secrets behind will cause a lot of contradictory controversy.

Banks, governments are still the enemy of bitcoin, it has happened many times, never ending!

Just keep watching for an update of your government's stance on Bitcoin because things could change all of a sudden and then your money is frozen. This is dangerous so I don't recommend you going to a bank and inquire about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency transactions with them because you don't know the person you are talking to and he might just dedicate himself to bring you down because you plan to make crypto transaction.  ;D

I once read a thread here in bitcointalk about someone asking a teller/something like that in the bank which now could potentially ruin his financial freedom.

Which country are you residing at? Some particular banks under the regulations of their country, prohibits the purchase of bitcoin that would be the reason why they are freezing or probably closing their bank accounts.

Its very important to know the bitcoin legalization of your country before doing anything. And it is better to be supervised by those who have experienced in buying bitcoin in a bank as there are also banks that are crypto-friendly.

I think I remember a similar thread about that. I know that they really froze the clients accounts knowing that he has acted on buying BTC and telling the bank without knowing that it's not allowed. I'm not sure if they gave him his money back or something but it's still a risk to be involved in banking systems that doesn't support this kind of finance.

On some exchanges as Remitano or Paxful, in your trade, you and your trade partners don't have any information that your bank transfer is made for cryptocurrency trade. Remitano gives you a code for your bank transfer. Paxful give you and your trade partner a trade chat to fill in trade details.

It is difficult for banks to know your trades are for crypytocurrencies. Just secret trades now but in the future, governments can enforce banks to trace money flow and discover cryptocurrency trades.

Because your bank transfer does not have details that it is for crypto trade, if you get scammed, you can not request support from banks or police. Side effects of secret trades in nations that cryptocurrency trades are not officially accepted by governments.

If there is a slight chance that the countries policy regarding Bitcoin can become harsh while you have used your bank account in buying BTC, they probably will close your account given that banks had done horrible things before. I'm sure they could try tracing the transactions in your bank account.

They could trace the BTC purchase from P2P and if they hate or not adopting BTC in your country, they will freeze your account.

This can not be general and I believe it basically depends on Countries policies with regards to cryptocurrency trading, so if for any reason your government have policy against crypto and some sort of instructions have been issued against that with bank accounts trading crypto, then that can happen else, bank accounts are usually closed if flagged for any suspicious reason until verified OK.

in my opinion, it depends on the policies and regulations of the country. But I just heard that there is a policy that the crypto owner concerned with the bank will be closed by the bank. If for negative reasons it might happen, such as money laundering for example.

It is only limited for some countries so you should know your government policy first before engaging with cryptocurrency, banks are against cryptocurrency so always make sure that you know first the nature of it. Thankfully we don't have this kind of system in our country. It
Yeah, it really depends on the policy of a country, that is why we need to research first before trying some new to avoid things like this. Some countries are considering people who use cryptocurrency as criminals.

Yeah that is true but unless the banks in your country wants to call you to explain every single transactions that is going on in your account, most people from such countries where this is happening have resulted to trading crypto with p2p with no mention of any crypto related info in transactions. I think that's a better way out.

Depends on which country you are from, in my country, there seems to be a loose or little to no regulation so it doesn't really matter how you get your money unless you act suspicious. I haven't tried buying bitcoin with a bank account since there isn't a lot of perks and it isn't the norm in my country to have a bank account unless you are in business or you are earning a lot of money.

I think it really depends on the country, like others mentioned, but also maybe on the bank as well. In my country, cryptos aren't regulated officially and the overall attitude to them is favorable (it's just that the Parliament cannot work out the details of how to treat them, but the ban is totally out of question). So buying or selling cryptos and using a bank account doesn't raise suspicions (perhaps it does if the sums are big, but then the authorities would just be interested where big sums of money come from, but not whether they're in cryptos or fiat). If things are worse in this respect in your country, I wouldn't risk it. If your country has various banks with different policies, perhaps you should google which banks are okay with cryptos because it can also be that some banks are against cryptos whereas others are fine with them.

I haven’t experienced that before, but I think if bank closes your account they are going to give you your money back, or isn’t that how it works? Anyways, for a bank to freeze or close your account it depends on the kind of activity that they notice on your account, there is an amount of money that come into your account all of a sudden and if it’s far too bigger than the regular amount that comes into your account, then they may suspect you. Then another thing is whether cryptocurrency is legal in your country, because if it is not, if you’re caught making use of it you will be having problem with the law and will even lose your assets.

So, these are things that you should put into consideration. Then be careful, it will be best for you to be making use of P2P exchanges, you wouldn’t have all these problems if you are using P2P and Dex exchange.

If there are crypto related restrictions imposed in your particular region then surely banks can freeze your account for trading in bitcoin.So it depends in which country you are living.Mainly banks close or freeze account if they found huge money flows in your account and you do not have valid proofs to provide the source of income as you have to file income tax returns.If you have sold Bitcoin it comes under capital gains so banks require you to provide source of income for filing and if you failed to provide so then surely they can close your account.This is the main problem with centralized money authority that your funds are their custody and you need to provide them with documents whenever they require and can impose restrictions on spending your funds which is why you need to have decentralised currency like bitcoin for freedom.You can sell P2P Bitcoins and have money in hand rather than in your bank accounts to avoid any further inconvenience.

In several countries this has happened with the banks. When such thing happen people look for the loop holes and the alternate way to buy bitcoin. Even in my country people were with fear of buying bitcoin, because the government hasn't given any precise information whether people are free to use or it is banned. Where there is will, there is way. This is the reality with using bitcoin.

I heard that too if not wrong in my country there are a bank who close a guy's account because involved in crypto. That is when i am not really intense in crypto but when i make bank account and they ask where is my money mostly come from, i said that i am selling online because not want that thing happened to me too.

Why would the bank want to know about your business is and what all transactions you will be getting, so do you need to submit your source of each and every transaction. If that is the case all you need is to ask the community from that particular country about the safest bank to make cryptocurrency transactions. I have heard certain complains from certain banks about not allowing cryptocurrency transaction from certain countries but there is always secondary options to overcome those restrictions.

Banks cannot do this without a letter of designation from central / state / authorized level .... which they have to enforce.  Their powers need to be approved by the government under emergency or special conditions and conditions.  It is possible that the Bank will freeze the account to handle related matters such as fraud suspicion, theft of property, lawsuits, tax .... etc.  My country has no news on this issue!  Regardless, they need to have a press release or media release or from app, sms ...


They do not have the right to enforce property confiscation if it is completely legal and is not within the framework that the government and the law prohibit.

The least thing bankers can do is "freeze" the bank account. This only happens when the country you live in has either restricted cryptocurrencies or has no law over it.
If the latter then it depends on the banks whether they want to support cryptocurrency related fiat transactions or not.
Even if that's the case and the bank doesn't support crypto related fiat transactions then all they can do is "freeze" the amount in your bank.
They do not have the rights to access your funds or dissolve your funds. In this case you can go to the bank and get your funds withdrawn either by closing the bank account or by giving them assurance of not doing crypto transactions again.

I have never bought bitcoin directly from a bank, but what I have ever done was depositing into the crypto market and from there I bought bitcoin. The bank in my country does not have a menu to buy bitcoin, so no one in my country buys bitcoin directly from the bank.
in my opinion the bank does not want to accept bitcoin purchases, this is quite difficult for me to buy bitcoin.

Banks will close our accounts if we are involved in bitcoin transactions, I think it's hard to believe because now bitcoin has grown like mushrooms, besides if they want to close our accounts, it must have government approval first ..

I have heard from one of my Indian friends that his bank had sent a cautious notice to him because he had transactions from that account with an exchange. He answered the bank with the official statement from the Supreme Court of India that it is not illegal to transact and he knows the dangers of trading in crypto and there is no need for the bank to be cautious about it. The bank couldn't answer him and his account was left alone but it might not be the same with a normal person's account and Banks may harass people without any proper reason.

Relies vigorously upon where you're from. There are a few nations wherein exchanging with digital forms of money and connecting it to your financial balance will get you into difficulty, so attempt to search for your country in the Local part of the discussion to find solutions from your kin. We can offer unclear advices and responses to your inquiry, however it's just you who realizes (https://assignmenthelpsaustralia.com/services/assignment-help-sydney.php) where you're from. From where I am, ledgers don't actually interfere with digital currency exchanges and truth be told are adjusting towards mix of cryptographic money into their monetary administrations. This is a summed up assertion from my locale. It might work for you and it may not, so it's truly essential to look for guidance from your kin who previously managed such before.

it only applies in some countries the bank has this policy. in my country the exchange can be connected to a bank account and makes transactions easier. believe me not all banks do something like that

Recently read about the news of ICICI Bank bans crypto trading. One can make transactions without using the term cryptocurrency, but there are possible chances of identifying everything associated with a transaction. In that case there is chance of closing the account, but such incidents happen very rare. Maybe same as this Bank there might be other banks making ban over the cryptocurrency trading.

Has happened before and will happen again. Banks aren't known to be open to embracing change, much less innovation in financial services and  products. We don't even need to look at blockchain to see this attitude, the fintech sector faced a lot of challenges -- strangely, especially in Europe and the US (at first) but now some Asian countries are lagging behind when it comes to challenger banks, for example.

What more to say for actual bankless and independent finance?

You should first learn how the rules and laws in the banks varies each country so that you may know if it can be possible that as you buy bitcoin, your bank account wouldn't get dismissed. As you learn about the policies then bank has with regards to making transactions that involves crypto exchanges, follow it and make sure you will not do anything that will make you lose your money all of a sudden. There are plenty of ways you can cheat your way on having a bank account and owning crypto, you can just simply have a separate wallet for your crypto and patiently wait till it is legal to be transacted within your banks.

How do they know we're trading bitcoin then freezes our account, maybe the proactiveness and safety here belong to us because I think we don't disclose information about the transaction, the bank will think this is just a normal cash transfer, many examples in the past accurately reflect this story when many people transacted bitcoin and always left messages regarding it, it was difficult for banks to accept due to government rules. Therefore, in order to be safe and become a legitimate buyer of bitcoins, we should carefully hide the nature of the transaction.

This will be depending on the country where you reside for there are certain cases and issues that have been raised within the forum for the past months having the concerns of banks closing their accounts due to crypto related transactions for there are countries that have strict restrictions with regards to that but I guess that have been resolved already since I have not been able to read such cases for the past weeks which I conclude those were already have been settled for good due to communication with the government and national banks of those people having the same cases.

It depends on the government policy of a country. If the government doesn't ban the crypto there, I think the banks won't do it. For example, it is like in my country, our government supports Bitcoin as a digital asset. So, as long as you don't use Bitcoin as a payment tool, it is no problem at all. So, basically, we cannot generalize this case, it may be different between one country and another country.

Closing an account or not depends on local policies. In my country, the government just does not allow the use of Bitcoin for payment, but hoarding as an asset is not prohibited. That also means that they do not prohibit the use of bank accounts to buy Bitcoin.
If the Bitcoin you buy is due to an offense that means you are guilty of money laundering. That will cause your bank account to be closed.

Depends on country you are living in. Some countries have already given BTC legal status so Banks in these countries have no right to ban your account on these grounds and if they do ban your account, you can always move the Court.
There are so many other countries where crypto is either banned or not regulated. You may face some issues with your bank if you buy crypto.
Better you ask some expert in your country.

Do not contact the banks and in this case you will not have such a problem.

Hello everybody. I have never heard of closing a bank account when buying bitcoins - there is no penalty for anything that cannot be proven. Banking sanctions will only be applied if you try to use a cryptocurrency transaction to try to withdraw them to fiat. Then, as the money becomes personalized, banks will have questions about the nature of the funds. In the meantime, buy as much bitcoin as you want, always remembering that at some point at least part of the profit you will have to sell and withdraw back to your bank account.

i think bank would not close if you buy bitcoins. people still need pitty cash and keeper so that we can secure are savings . in the future maybe there is no cash but it will takes a decade. bitcoin price now reaches high  value and many people and company invest in it and probably make profit from it by simply holding or trading.

It depends on your location and the rules guiding that region, if you are in a country which is against bitcoin and warns individuals not to indulge in bitcoin or crypto related activities, then you get credited and the description bears the name bitcoin or bitcoin attached to it surely your account will be blocked immediately tho there might not take your money but at same time you can't make use of it untill you go to the  bank to explain urself and believe there are questions you will surely need to answer and if you are not lucky enough you might face a penalty for violating the rules.

what ^@mk4 said is true, it all depends on the respective country....here in my country there is not a single case as you said, the bank does not close someone accounts that transact Bitcoin.  if you hear this from someone then it is most likely "FUD".

According to recent crypto regulation in Nigeria, The central bank has asked the bank to close any customer that his/her account linked to any crypto related transaction. In such case the account holder might lose his/her money when the account is freeze by the bank. However, for someone who can afford a lawyer can make case with in the court to get his/her account unfreeze

This really depends on the regulations that apply in a country related to bitcoin.  If there are no restrictions on engaging with cryptocurrency, then there is no problem if we make crypto or bitcoin purchases through a bank account.  in fact, the current trend is that many centralized exchanges provide direct withdrawal services to bank accounts.  This is the main attraction because it is very easy for users.  so for convenience, please check the cryptocurrency rules set in your country.

What do you mean they can't taking all the money ?
It seems impossible for a bank to withhold some of the money from its customers if all of it will be taken.
The possibility that what could happen is that the bank cannot give all the money that the customer has in large amounts if the demand is sudden. So you have to confirm before taking large amounts of money.

I think those policies have been revoked and if it is still uphold in your country it is advisable you go for pair to pair or while doing the transaction don't specify is for the purchase of bitcoin or any crypto just transact and say its for business purpose

If they close your bank account just because you are buying bitcoin or you are using this bank account to transfer your profits on cryptocurrency or bitcoin then probably they will just hold it first before closing your entire bank account and another thing is that you will be able to received some messages from the bank informing you that they will hold or close your bank account. I've seen a lot of this in our country to avoid money laundering.

The chance is very big that they will do this again, because they did that in the early days.. when Bitcoin was still a huge threat to them. If you want to be safe, open a new account at another Bank ...just for the purpose of using that for Crypto currency transactions. (That way, if they close the account.. it will not be disruptive and your other savings will be protected.)

Banks quickly saw that they were the off-ramp for Crypto that was converted to Fiat and that they could cash in on the transaction fees of these trades... so they forgot about those days.  ::)

That's the situation in Nigeria at the moment as the banks have disassociated themselves from cryptocurrency transactions (not a ban though), as it's no longer possible to buy crypto using credit/debit cards of Nigerian banks, neither does the bank process crypto to Fiat, into customers bank account via exchanges, everything related to crypto is as such done via P2p now.

Having said that, if OP is a resident of a country like Nigeria, then P2p is a reliable option, and then you avoid making it known to people that you either have or bought Bitcoin, but if you're in a country that sees nothing wrong with crypto, nor have any laid down regulations, then you can freely buy and transfer your funds into your bank account after selling without any hassles of any sort.

- The situation of arrest is quite rare in recent years as the buying and selling processes have become more thorough than in the beginning, everyone knows how banks are capable of observing our accounts, so negligence in information is not advisable. But in the modern and evolving era of crypto and bitcoin, banks are also quite comfortable in this matter, they encourage and observe more on the profitability of services, the cost for such services is also not low and so they can close their eyes and pretend they don't know the truth inside.

As long as making investment into cryptocurrencies is not forbidden in your country, there must be no chance for banks to do such thing. In the end, why would banks do that when there is no reason for it? It doesn't make sense.