Bitcoin Forum

I just found out that my bank is against anyone of their customers buying bitcoin or bitcoin related things like hard wallets. I have heard it somewhere and would like to confirm or not the following. Of course when I tried to pay for a hard wallet with my credit card, it was declined by the bank. I have heard that if you buy bitcoin through your bank by wire transfer, they have no way of knowing what you bought. Is this true? If it is can I rest assured that the bank will not find out I bought bitcoin this way? I live in Canada, does anyone know a bank that has not problems with you buying bitcoin?

It's the first time of me hearing bank denials of hardware wallet purchases lol. Why not try using PayPal? Not to mention Ledger and Trezor accepts BTC payments.

As for buying bitcoin, probably use peer-to-peer services such as HodlHodl[1] and LocalCryptos[2]. Chances are, they wouldn't find out that you're actually buying bitcoin. All they see is that you sent out money to a certain person.

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[1] https://hodlhodl.com/
[2] https://localcryptos.com/

You can choose Peer-to-peer marketplaces and buy Bitcoin. Only you and your trade partners know details of your trade.

Help: A list of LocalBitcoin alternatives (P2P marketplaces) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224711.msg53810894#msg53810894)
https://bisq.network/
No details of bank transfer transactions that they are for Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency trades. When you trade partner receives fiat from your bank transfer, bitcoin or crypto will be released. Bank will not know that bank transfer transaction is for crypto trade.

Call your bank and ask them why your transaction was declined.
You tried to buy a hardware wallet, not cryptocurrencies, even if they are against crypto, they shouldn't block transactions for equipment.


What you have heard is wrong or you didn't understand it exactly. A wire transfer where exactly? If this is a wire transfer to a crypto exchange, of course they will know. But if this was a wire transfer to somebody else, and you bought P2P probably they will not know, as they will only have your money traced to the other guy's account. Depending on the amount, banks may ask questions or alert financial authorities though. There are AML procedures depending on where you live. In Europe, wire transfers of over 2,000 euro are being watched under the latest KYC/AML framework.


I thought that Canada was pro-crypto, I don't know why your bank gives you problems. I suggest to just call the bank and ask them. I mean, you already had that transaction rejected by your bank, and if you want to avoid any interest in cryptocurrencies to your bank, you can't. So why not call them and ask them, this will clear all your questions.
It's not like you wanted to use Bitcoin for illegal activities. You already know everything is recorded and the blockchain is transparent.

This is weird, any bank should allow their customers to buy any piece of hardware (Like a hardware wallet), they must understand it's your money, and not their money. even if you want to spend it in bitches and cocaine isn't their business.  ;D

They know what you are buying if you are paying directly to the hardware wallet company or if you are depositing directly to an exchange. They should have black-listed companies. That's how they know what are you buying.

Canada has some hard laws against bitcoin, but you can always go to the bank to withdraw some cash, and make a deposit to buy bitcoins in localbitcoins. I would recommend you to talk with your bank and give them an ultimatum, if they don't let you spend your money then change to another bank or use paypal.

Thanks for that info. Are there any amounts that they flag? Or if one has to go this route and make many smaller transactions of like $1000 at a time over a short period of time, wouldn't that be flagged by them?

Also I am basically a newbie about crypto currencies, but isn't it true that you have to worry about dirty bitcoins, involved in illegal activity, wouldn't this info be available to the "authorities", like the banks and even government agencies. i have heard that some exchanges  have ratings from past buys though, so I guess that would be much safer, but that issue, is it or much danger?

lastly, isn't there an option to buy a prepaid credit card where you don't have to give them any of your info, thus making them perfect for buying bitcoin?

If you have trouble dealing with Bitcoin just because the bank does not accept the transaction, you can find another way. You can qualify of a Bitcoin with the official money value for your country to pay. With the demand for trading Bitcoin exchanges now requires the Bank to have changes when trading Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin works to promote the economy of a country.

Canada has some hard laws against bitcoin, but you can always go to the bank to withdraw some cash, and make a deposit to buy bitcoins in localbitcoins. I would recommend you to talk with your bank and give them an ultimatum, if they don't let you spend your money then change to another bank or use paypal.
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I checked out localbitcoins, they look like they charge quite a high fee to buy bitcoin, like roughly 8%, is that correct? Where can you buy bitcoin without kyc with the lowest fees.... keep in mind, I live in Canada, I don't know if that matters, lol, I am a newb.

I you buy from a decentralized exchange with no kyc, through bank wire, does your bank know that you are buying bitcoin? I would guess so. Which leaves only p2p. I would like to find a bank in Canada that allows the buying of bitcoin. Although I guess if you buy p2p, there is no way for any of the authorities to know you bought bitcoin? Is this true?

I thought that Canada was pro-crypto, I don't know why your bank gives you problems. I suggest to just call the bank and ask them.
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I did, they said they have a policy against the buying of bitcoin or bitcoin accessories.

I would recommend that you buy your hardware wallet with crypto or any related item to avoid all these inconveniences.
Take a look at this Binance article if it suits your needs. I am an active Binance P2P user and the reason why I recommend it due to my good experience.
Please try it and I hope it will be useful for you too.

Banks and authorities won't know these dirty bitcoins not unless they're known working with some chain analysis service.

You can on binance, no kyc but just for trading on certain amount, but for buying crypto and using p2p you need to give your info for kyc. You can also buy crypto using credit/debit card there (https://www.binance.com/en-NG/support/announcement/d4119064007d4c8e8e7c944dff7ae280)

If your concern is only to buy hardware wallet you can use paypal, try linking your card to paypal and then buy what ever you want.

banks will continue to always decline cryptocurrency purchase because its against their policy. they see cryptocurrency as a competitor which shortchanges them thats why they dont allow by standing under the guise of volatility and unregulations. the best way to buy is to use p2p on any good exchange like binance.

I forgot where but I read before that government doesn't allow crypto currencies because they saw it as competitors. The government or businesses will have more profit in real money or the transaction is over the banks. You have a good advice to use p2p on good exchange. But I learned from it that we can now buy gadgets, properties and etc by paying crypto currencies.

There are other payment methods that you can use, if your bank keeps stopping you for purchasing bitcoin and hardware wallets. Look for another method that you can use.

Maybe a guy near your local is into crypto and has no problem purchasing these, you should have a deal with him and do the favor for you. Make sure that you know the guy and you trust him so, it's like a P2P deal.

Well, if you can't purchase a hardware wallet, you can use Electrum wallet ^{[ https://electrum.org/#download ]} and store it into your offline device that never connected to the internet. Make sure that you have copied the right passphrase to recover it when your gadget will be lost. Purchasing bitcoin in P2P exchanges is the right choice when buy and sell bitcoin in your place is very strict. Banks are always against to Bitcoin, so I did not wonder about these things.

Banks may stop you from buying btc but they cannot stop you to buy usdt. Look for a local friend who can help you in buying usdt, it will not be hard as usdt is pegged to usd value (at least till now) and you can use vpn or tor browser to connect to the exchanges and browse safely because no one can tell if your government will decide to ban crypto tomorrow, you will have your setup ready.

USA here. some banks do.

many here have long bought and sold btc with bank accounts. i linked coinbase in 2013 and gemini in 2019 to mine and they have NEVER asked me any questions.

ive spoken to the branch manager, she knew a surprising amount about bitcoin. i got the impression she may own some and use coinbase as she knew all about coinbase crashing under loads and such.

this may not help the jakesun64 as he is in canada but i wanted to add some clarification.

that's some weird policy. why don't they block paypal deposit too since some scammers use them to scam p2p trades?

if i were you, i'd consider using another bank after that.

Very good information, I have also used it many times, this is a very easy and safe way to buy bitcoin. at this time it is very difficult to find a bank that can serve for the purchase of bitcoin what else for the purchase of a hardware wallet. In general, we experience a little difficulty in bitcoin transactions through banks, if the bank is willing to accept this service it will increase the income for the bank from each bitcoin buying and selling transaction.

@jakesun64, some banks have their own internal rules when it comes to cryptocurrencies, whether it is buying them or anything else that has to do with them. What they most often cite as an explanation for such a business policy is that in this way they protect their clients from risky investments and all possible risks that may arise from such transactions. Maybe you could send inquiries to some other banks in your area and find some who has a positive attitude towards what you need.

Although it is generally the most expensive way to buy, one of the alternatives is crypto ATMs which are quite numerous in Canada -> https://coinatmradar.com/country/38/bitcoin-atm-canada/

As for hardware devices, Ledger has about a dozen resellers in Canada, so maybe you can order the device directly from them and pay by cash on delivery, or buy it in person at one of the physical stores. https://shop.ledger.com/pages/retailers

Just try asking them why. If that will be their rules (even though the hard wallet is not crypto but use for holding purposes), we have nothing to do with that and that is not the end of our life. We can still purchase a hard wallet not using a credit card. Or you have to transfer to another bank that accepts and allows you to make transactions even buying crypto.

What I think is that the bank manager doesn't give clear restrictions in regards to that or they don't know anything about crypto hard wallets. Maybe you have to talk to them and help them understand about it.

Some banks indeed don't want Bitcoin transaction since Bitcoin is not regulated which government can't get tax out of its transaction. Just like on our country, Some Banks force closed an account if ever they detected that the money entering to your account is from Bitcoin regardless on how you get it. Until now, Bitcoin is still on gray area in some countries especially to those 3rd world country.

Hmmm...you should ask them why if bitcoin is not banned in your country. In our country, Philippines bitcoin is not ban, I've been into cryptocurrency for almost 6yrs, there almost a btc wallet that support transfer to diff banks here and thanks God, I have never been question by my bank how I receiving such amount. I am also paying tax, PH doesnt have tax rate specially made for crypto traders so I am just reporting my earnings as other income aside from being a practicing professional in my ITR.

I just heard this for the first time because I usually don't use a hardware wallet in buying bitcoin.
but if this is true there will be many people who question and create discussion forums like this from yesterday, but so far only you who have experienced it may.
try using p2p, because p2p I think is very easy to use in this case
In addition, other methods can also be tried