Barclays Bank UK ending Coinbase partnership

[JollyGood]

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/08/14/barclays-bank-coinbase-split-up-clearbank/

https://www.cityam.com/barclays-stops-banking-cryptocurrency-exchange-coinbase/


How will this affect UK based Coinbase customers and the volumes it trades because Barclays Bank is such a big asset providing access to potential millions of customers for Coinbase.

[Slow death]

I have read this news several times and it seems to me that both barclays and coinbase are then striving to hide the real reason for the end of their partnership. My question is: Why they hiding the real reason? if it were regulatory issues, they would have immediately mentioned or barclays and coinbase are trying to convince the government and because of that they don't want press interference because it could cause some problem in barclays relationship with the government and both coinbase would also face the government... If we had an investigative press, we would have all the details of this news.

[JollyGood]

I have read this news several times and it seems to me that both barclays and coinbase are then striving to hide the real reason for the end of their partnership. My question is: Why they hiding the real reason? if it were regulatory issues, they would have immediately mentioned or barclays and coinbase are trying to convince the government and because of that they don't want press interference because it could cause some problem in barclays relationship with the government and both coinbase would also face the government... If we had an investigative press, we would have all the details of this news.

It does seem strange that two very large financial entities will end their partnership and not really give any real reason for doing so.

Coinbase has teamed with another UK bank which is reported to be a small new bank called Clearbank but the whole thing surrounding Barclays seems shrouded in secrecy for some reason.

And it can be seen Coinbase has not promoted the Clearbank deal with any fanfare unlike when they did with the Barclays deal, which they maximised for publicity.

[LeGaulois]

I have read this news several times and it seems to me that both barclays and coinbase are then striving to hide the real reason for the end of their partnership. My question is: Why they hiding the real reason? if it were regulatory issues, they would have immediately mentioned or barclays and coinbase are trying to convince the government and because of that they don't want press interference because it could cause some problem in barclays relationship with the government and both coinbase would also face the government... If we had an investigative press, we would have all the details of this news.

It does seem strange that two very large financial entities will end their partnership and not really give any real reason for doing so.

Coinbase has teamed with another UK bank which is reported to be a small new bank called Clearbank but the whole thing surrounding Barclays seems shrouded in secrecy for some reason.

And it can be seen Coinbase has not promoted the Clearbank deal with any fanfare unlike when they did with the Barclays deal, which they maximised for publicity.

None will give a reason. The bank can well say, it's not of our business (and it's true) if something needs to be announced it's supposed to come from Coinbase.

A bank can terminate the relationship at any time and at its own discretion and isn't even forced to give a reason to the customer, it's written on the contracts. (no matter if it's a company or individual) Of course, in such situation companies don't promote their failure, and Coinbase itself maybe can't give a reason, since there is a chance it doesn't know it itself.

[logfiles]

How will this affect UK based Coinbase customers and the volumes it trades because Barclays Bank is such a big asset providing access to potential millions of customers for Coinbase.

The Volumes will of course kind of plummet at first but i think people will find away through. I dunno how popular coinbase is to crypto lovers in the UK but i think most top centralized exchanges who are direct competitors to coinbase are starting to adapt by providing for direct fiat deposits from banks.

So long term, I don't think the effect will be felt... People will move on.

[JollyGood]

I have read this news several times and it seems to me that both barclays and coinbase are then striving to hide the real reason for the end of their partnership. My question is: Why they hiding the real reason? if it were regulatory issues, they would have immediately mentioned or barclays and coinbase are trying to convince the government and because of that they don't want press interference because it could cause some problem in barclays relationship with the government and both coinbase would also face the government... If we had an investigative press, we would have all the details of this news.

It does seem strange that two very large financial entities will end their partnership and not really give any real reason for doing so.

Coinbase has teamed with another UK bank which is reported to be a small new bank called Clearbank but the whole thing surrounding Barclays seems shrouded in secrecy for some reason.

And it can be seen Coinbase has not promoted the Clearbank deal with any fanfare unlike when they did with the Barclays deal, which they maximised for publicity.

None will give a reason. The bank can well say, it's not of our business (and it's true) if something needs to be announced it's supposed to come from Coinbase.

A bank can terminate the relationship at any time and at its own discretion and isn't even forced to give a reason to the customer, it's written on the contracts. (no matter if it's a company or individual) Of course, in such situation companies don't promote their failure, and Coinbase itself maybe can't give a reason, since there is a chance it doesn't know it itself.

Yes putting the onus on Coinbase to explain everything might be a step too far especially if Barclays may not have told them the reasons. It is safe to accept that Coinbase would not have terminated the deal as it was in their interest to retain it. Whatever happened is probably down to Barclays, but why?

[lixer]

Coinbase do not need UK at all, they could just either work with a smaller bank or they could just go around all of that and work with Ireland, many Ireland banks have freedom to do whatever they want in UK anyway so this basically means nothing.

Plus, UK based ones could use their own local exchanges anyway, I don't know which ones because I am not UK based and I have no idea what local exchanges they have but in all around the world people use local exchanges anyway, they turn their bitcoin to fiat or fiat to bitcoin in their own national currency, considering UK has their own national currency even tho all other countries in EU zone uses Euro that means it would be better for the UK people to use local ones and use sterling to calculate prices and exchange.

[JollyGood]

Coinbase do not need UK at all, they could just either work with a smaller bank or they could just go around all of that and work with Ireland, many Ireland banks have freedom to do whatever they want in UK anyway so this basically means nothing.

Plus, UK based ones could use their own local exchanges anyway, I don't know which ones because I am not UK based and I have no idea what local exchanges they have but in all around the world people use local exchanges anyway, they turn their bitcoin to fiat or fiat to bitcoin in their own national currency, considering UK has their own national currency even tho all other countries in EU zone uses Euro that means it would be better for the UK people to use local ones and use sterling to calculate prices and exchange.

Thank you for the post.

I think you might be misinformed. Coinbase do need the UK to service UK customers because having a UK bank account means they have access to the "Faster Payments" system. It means money can deposited to and from between a UK Coinbase bank account and UK customer within minutes. Without it, a deposit and withdrawal could take several days if settled internationally between a US Coinbase bank account and a UK customer account.

Ireland is not part of the UK and Coinbase having an Irish bank account will not help UK customers with the UK banks Faster Payments scheme.

UK local exchanges (as you put them) are not as big as Coinbase and yes they do allow payments using bank transfer but there are reasons why they are not being used widely and only a few have a great reputation hence why Coinbase and Barclays was a huge deal.

[exstasie]

It does seem strange that two very large financial entities will end their partnership and not really give any real reason for doing so.

Coinbase isn't exactly a "large financial entity." Anyway, do banks generally make announcements disclosing why they are closing certain accounts? I don't think so. That's between them and their clients.

All signs point to regulatory and AML concerns. They shut down their crypto trading division last year, and their CEO also said this:

Earlier in May 2018, Jes Staley, the CEO of Barclays, told attendees at the bank’s annual general meetings to exercise caution while dealing with cryptocurrencies. At the time, he noted that there’s a “possibility of cryptocurrencies being used for activities that the bank wants to have no part of.”

[1Referee]

UK local exchanges (as you put them) are not as big as Coinbase and yes they do allow payments using bank transfer but there are reasons why they are not being used widely and only a few have a great reputation hence why Coinbase and Barclays was a huge deal.

It's definitely a loss for Coinbase but a massive opportunity for the other smaller exchanges to gain some more popularity.

According to Bitcoinity Bit-x aka Coinsbank has a lot of volume in GBP, but I don't really trust their volume reports. If I look at their volume bars, they one by one are nearly identical, which is very suspicious. It reeks of automated wash trading with little care to make it look organic.

Most people probably know them because they used to run one of the biggest signature campaigns here where the top posters earned like 0.5BTC per week.

[JollyGood]

UK local exchanges (as you put them) are not as big as Coinbase and yes they do allow payments using bank transfer but there are reasons why they are not being used widely and only a few have a great reputation hence why Coinbase and Barclays was a huge deal.

It's definitely a loss for Coinbase but a massive opportunity for the other smaller exchanges to gain some more popularity.

According to Bitcoinity Bit-x aka Coinsbank has a lot of volume in GBP, but I don't really trust their volume reports. If I look at their volume bars, they one by one are nearly identical, which is very suspicious. It reeks of automated wash trading with little care to make it look organic.

Most people probably know them because they used to run one of the biggest signature campaigns here where the top posters earned like 0.5BTC per week.

I never of that exchange but you are right others can try to make their own deals and try to occupy that space. The fact that Coinbase will be doing exactly the same thing as they did with Barclays but using Clearbank means it will be business as usual because UK customers will be able to send and receive funds to Coinbase literally in minutes.

Look at the CMC exchanges. They are flooded with exchanges sending fake volumes to CMC just to try to bring in customers. Most are scams. At least with Coinbase you know you will not be scammed.

[exstasie]

The fact that Coinbase will be doing exactly the same thing as they did with Barclays but using Clearbank means it will be business as usual because UK customers will be able to send and receive funds to Coinbase literally in minutes.

Eventually that'll be true, but Clearbank won't have Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) payments until "at least the end of Q3 2019." Until then, GBP deposits and withdrawals will now take days to process.

There are other consequences too. The new relationship with Clearbank is the reason they de-listed Zcash:

Earlier this week, Coinbase de-listed zcash, the privacy-centric cryptocurrency, which uses a technology called zero-knowledge proofs to mask details of transactions from blockchain watchers. A person familiar with the decision said it was “completely to do with the new bank”; ClearBank was uncomfortable indirectly supporting a currency with features that make law enforcement’s job harder.

[JollyGood]

Eventually that'll be true, but Clearbank won't have Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) payments until "at least the end of Q3 2019." Until then, GBP deposits and withdrawals will now take days to process.

"Faster Payments Service (FPS) was launched in 2008 and ClearBank® joined the scheme in 2017.": https://www.clear.bank/downloads/factsheets/ClearBank FPS Product Factsheet.pdf

https://www.clear.bank/faqs: "What currencies does ClearBank® process?" - ClearBank® processes GBP via Faster Payments, Bacs and CHAPS

Coinbase should try to make this as seamless as possible and with the ease that they will seamlessly move accounts the end user will not notice any difficulty at all.

[exstasie]

Eventually that'll be true, but Clearbank won't have Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) payments until "at least the end of Q3 2019." Until then, GBP deposits and withdrawals will now take days to process.

"Faster Payments Service (FPS) was launched in 2008 and ClearBank® joined the scheme in 2017.": https://www.clear.bank/downloads/factsheets/ClearBank FPS Product Factsheet.pdf

Maybe so, but it's not available to Coinbase users. The only direct banking options right now are SWIFT and SEPA. See here: https://blog.coinbase.com/temporary-change-to-gbp-bank-deposits-and-withdrawals-for-coinbase-uk-customers-d06b72630e07

Coinbase hasn't given an ETA for restoring FPS but according to other sources it won't be until end of Q3 or later: https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-and-barclays-part-ways-will-uk-users-be-affected

Coinbase should try to make this as seamless as possible and with the ease that they will seamlessly move accounts the end user will not notice any difficulty at all.

That's ideal but it looks like Barclays sort of pulled the rug out from under them.

[samcrypto]

Something went wrong under the table for sure, and it can hurt many users. Coinbase is a good exchange for cryptos, but I don't see any decline on the volume of traders or investors because they still have other option. If the banks back-out their support, then government are moving towards that. Its not fair not telling the true reason, but its ok people in U.K just need to deal with it and look for alternatives.

[JollyGood]

Eventually that'll be true, but Clearbank won't have Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) payments until "at least the end of Q3 2019." Until then, GBP deposits and withdrawals will now take days to process.

"Faster Payments Service (FPS) was launched in 2008 and ClearBank® joined the scheme in 2017.": https://www.clear.bank/downloads/factsheets/ClearBank FPS Product Factsheet.pdf

Maybe so, but it's not available to Coinbase users. The only direct banking options right now are SWIFT and SEPA. See here: https://blog.coinbase.com/temporary-change-to-gbp-bank-deposits-and-withdrawals-for-coinbase-uk-customers-d06b72630e07

Coinbase hasn't given an ETA for restoring FPS but according to other sources it won't be until end of Q3 or later: https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-and-barclays-part-ways-will-uk-users-be-affected

Coinbase should try to make this as seamless as possible and with the ease that they will seamlessly move accounts the end user will not notice any difficulty at all.

That's ideal but it looks like Barclays sort of pulled the rug out from under them.

The blog was written on 24th July and mentions delays between 1st and 15th August. Since then they have partnered with Clearbank so I think the issue is over and should not be a problem as Faster Payments are probably already restored. All it takes to have access to the Faster Payments Scheme is a UK bank account then you are automatically included.

Regarding Barclays pulling the rug from under Coinbase, I would say seems to be the case and full credit to Coinbase for not bad-mouthing Barclays in their blog or media PR releases. I know the UK decided to look in trying to some control over the usage of Bitcoin and maybe that played a part in why Barclays seems to have ended the Coinbase partnership:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/bitcoin-products-set-banned-uk-17375017
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/03/fca-proposes-ban-on-cryptocurrency-products

[gentlemand]

I don't have a massive amount of confidence in Clearbank's partnership lasting. The Zcash thing is a rapid demonstration of that. The smaller the bank, the easier they'll be pushed around, the twitchier they'll be and the quicker they'll be to fold when put under pressure.

In a country with banking as crypto hostile as Britain Coinbase need a heavyweight on side, not an upstart.

[exstasie]

The blog was written on 24th July and mentions delays between 1st and 15th August. Since then they have partnered with Clearbank so I think the issue is over and should not be a problem as Faster Payments are probably already restored.

It's not. I have a friend in the UK who has confirmed there is no access to FPS. All press reports say the same exact thing: no FPS until at least end of Q3, if their relationship even lasts that long.

FPS was pulled on August 1st and the blog mentions comping trading commissions between 8/1-8/15. That's all.

Regarding Barclays pulling the rug from under Coinbase, I would say seems to be the case and full credit to Coinbase for not bad-mouthing Barclays in their blog or media PR releases.

I'm sure Coinbase knew from the start that Barclays was on the fence. They pulled the plug on their crypto trading desk only a few months in, and their executives have been making ominous statements about crypto regulation for over a year now.

I don't have a massive amount of confidence in Clearbank's partnership lasting. The Zcash thing is a rapid demonstration of that.

Same here. I think it was even Coinbase's policy already not to transact with shielded addresses. Not a good sign at all. I hope they're still looking for a new bank.

[Docnaster]

People are harking about this news as if it is something that actually affects either Coinbase or Barclays. It was a business tie-up. It ended. There'll be other banks and other relationships that'll be worked on behind the scenes. No point in rebroadcasting the same news in multiple posts here. I also did not consider Barclays to be a big roleplayer in crypto sector.

[gentlemand]

People are harking about this news as if it is something that actually affects either Coinbase or Barclays. It was a business tie-up. It ended. There'll be other banks and other relationships that'll be worked on behind the scenes. No point in rebroadcasting the same news in multiple posts here. I also did not consider Barclays to be a big roleplayer in crypto sector.

Stuff like this is notable. The UK crypto scene is stunted because of the lack of banking. This was a big step towards it catching up.

The US crypto scene is dependent on a very small number of banks. If one of them throws in the towel in a similar manner you can bet your tight buns it would be major news. Whether we like it or not conventional banking is a major factor.