Bitcoin Forum

Hi there,

which banks in EU are crypto friendly, meaning that they allow payments in and out of cryptocurrency exchanges and do not give you any hassle?

I had a pleasant experience with Nordea bank before (available in Nordic countries only). I see that this question is being a lot lately... People should understand that the used bank doesn't matter much unless you're running a crypto business. A bank will investigate regardless of how crypto-friendly they are If there are any suspicious activities (large amounts) with your account.

If you're too paranoid, you can always call the bank and ask them about their stand regarding transactions that involve cryptocurrencies. I had a friend who did that, and the response of the bank was that they can't stop him from doing so but he should be careful because bitcoin is risky, etc. (what any banker would say basically).

I did the same back in 2014 when my bank (ING) sent me a letter that I should stop using my bank account to send/receive wires from crypto exchanges. They told me to not know the exact reason, but promised to call me back the next day with more information, but they didn't. I ditched them and since then don't have a problem anymore.

More recently, I know from people around me who also used ING that they have been told to stop using their bank accounts for nefarious purposes (the bank yet again failed to explain what the nefarious purposes were that they used as reason). All these people did was wire money to an exchange to buy Bitcoin. ING was probably pissed that these people were wiring large sums of money to foreign bank accounts belonging to the exchanges.

Bunq has been gaining some momentum in the last couple of years. They seem very open to people using their accounts to trade crypto and whatnot, so definitely worth checking out; https://www.bunq.com/

For now, you may not get much crypto friendly banks because the use of cryptocurrency does disrupt their own operation to an extent and I am sure that they have not really factored in how they can collaborate with cryptocurrency and their own tradition fiat or way of banking.

It does not even bother me if we have any bank that is interested in cryptocurrency services at all, because my wallet now serves as my bank and if I need to exchange any money from my wallet into my traditional bank account, all I just do is to use specialized agents, that is local exchanges, and they are the one that I have been suing for a very long time now which they have been  very useful and very reliable in making y cryptocurrency transaction easy for me when it comes to exchange between fiat and cryptocurrency.

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I remember there was a service discussion topic which sounds similar to you. Let me dig if I am correct.

Thank you, if you have found it, please share it here!

There's a list of banking services here: Free EU bank accounts that you can be opened directly online (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1756494.0)
I don't know if it's exactly what you need, most probably not all of them are Bitcoin friendly. But it can be a start.

Definitely not all of them. For example paysera is very hostile towards crypto

any other suggestions?

Until recently, in order to open a bank account, you needed a personal presence in a bank branch, but today there are already opportunities to get a bank card via the Internet.  I don’t know how things are in other countries, but I know that a bank called “Monobank” in Ukraine makes it possible to open a bank account and receive your bank card using the application that is already on the Play Store.  You download this application, enter all the data and a photo of your document and a bank card will be sent to the address you specified.  Since the team that was the developers of this bank are exactly the people who are promoting High Technologies in this country today, I won’t be surprised that soon this bank will work very closely with cryptocurrencies.

Still really depends on what European country you are currently situated in since each laws varies on each different countries. From what I know United Kingdom is one of the countries having bad thoughts against crypto lately so it is best if you choose banks not coming from them. Countries like Germany, Italy, and Switzerland have positive views towards the industry so expect them to have much lighter rules when it comes to their banks. Still doing your own research on each bank would also help in your situation.

Maybe it's hard to find  crypto friendly banks openly but I would say that many european banks, especialy in countries like UK, Germany or Austria, would close one eye and not react in negative way or froze your account.
I.think that banks would like to make business with cryptocurrencies, they just lack regulation.