The hypocrisy of the UK on Cryptocurrency

[btc_angela]

The problem of one establishment out of many should never be a yardstick in judging others. For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

Most of these UK banks has political affiliation or connection. They will always do the bidding of the political class. The political class wants to control everything about the citizens including how they keep or save their own money. Banks like Nationwide are placing some restrictions like not allowing customers to buy cryptocurrency with debit or credit cards. They have also restricted the amount that can be transacted using cryptos. Their common excuse will be that they are protecting citizens from scams or loss of funds caused by the fall of exchanges.

This one, just like in the US wherein Biden and his political cohorts are in power, and so their hard line stance against bitcoin, just like what we are seeing in Gary Gensler of SEC. So there is politics behind all of this, and maybe UK is not immune to this.

If the government really wants to protect its citizens from fraudulent exchanges, it should promote awareness programs that encourage citizens to use decentralized platforms to engage in bitcoin transactions. FTX will always be the defense of the government in its selfish quest to silence crypto.

They are just hiding their real intentions with this excuses. There are a lot of politicians who benefited from SBF that's why it takes time for the US government to hand him down the verdict.

There is also another related thread: UK Crypto, Stablecoin Rules Receive Royal Assent, Passing Into Law.

[Sarah Azhari]

For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

I think, all the banks are like that too, because Bitcoin really bothered them. the bitcoin system is so mismatched with what they did. They changed the gold system from fiat so they can easily control money. Now, a new product appears to replace in what they have to destroyed long time ago (gold). I think, that the big problem of crypto is still bank where the government still have control of it. they try to erode it by creating CDBC, a camouflage product to make crypto more centralization so easy to control people around the world.

[Ale88]

Can you imagine? Banks claim to be blocking people and businesses because of the FTX collapse. How many banks have they stopped because of the ugly past of many UK banks that went insolvent?

The problem of one establishment out of many should never be a yardstick in judging others. For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

The banks nowadays are fighting against something that, day after day, is becoming bigger and bigger and they don't know how to stop it. The smart banks will embrace cryptos and make a profit out of it; other banks, like those that are blockings transfers for stupid reasons like "your own security" will just end up like the dinosaurs did. Maybe not in 1 year, maybe not in 5 and not even in 10, but eventually they will.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

The UK is hypocritical on financial issues in general. The City of London has long been a global money laundering centre:

Londongrad: how the City became a money-laundering haven

Why is London money laundering capital of the world?

How London became the dirty money capital of the world | FT Film

This is for large-scale laundering. For individuals you have companies like Transferwise (now Wise) that are used to hide funds from their countries' treasuries as well.

If they have this policy regarding cryptocurrencies, it is not as they say to protect consumers, it is because they do not control them.

[Fundamentals Of]

Why are they hypocrite when there's something they are responding to? It's not like they're openly supporting or promoting crypto and then they are also blocking the transactions to and from centralized exchanges. They're responding to something big. The fall of FTX wasn't small. It made into the headlines. It caused a huge ripple effect across the crypto industry. If these banks weren't responding, then I guess they're being negligent. We don't like it of course, but are these banks in violation of the law in any way? Anybody can file a complaint against them or even bring them to court.

[adaseb]

It’s not only on the UK it’s everywhere like that. After FTX many lost their savings and governments ended up taking action. They don’t want to deal with the public complaining about being scammed by FTX so they would rather just outlaw it completely.

Hence why many banks cut ties with Binance. Because they don’t want to be liable in the offchance that they are another FTX. They basically want people to buy Bitcoin on the stock exchange which they know is regulated. Hence why there is a good chance that Blackrock etf is approved.

[YUriy1991]

Can you imagine? Banks claim to be blocking people and businesses because of the FTX collapse. How many banks have they stopped because of the ugly past of many UK banks that went insolvent?

The problem of one establishment out of many should never be a yardstick in judging others. For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

Btw, In general, if we look at banks as one of the traditional financial institutions, there are times when we see cryptocurrencies as one of the formidable opponents of their business model. they see this from a competitive business standpoint. I'm sure they will maintain their dominance in the financial sector. Yes. We are the roosters, not the others. Apart from that, if we role go back to the past, Bank itself has also faced a collapse with various financial scandals. So, from your question above Why are UK banks blocking transfers to and from crypto exchanges In 2023?

One of the common classic reasons is the application of risk management and customer protection that they have provided for their customers. That means, indirectly they have a responsibility to manage risk and protect the assets of their customers. This became a strong additional reason as justification for their actions from the collapse of FTX exchange as a crypto exchange at that time.

[Silberman]

I've been following the development in the UK in line with cryptocurrency for a while now, and I must say that I'm not so happy about most of the things I read. The hypocrisy of that nation is much, they could have just announced to the whole world that they've banned crypto instead of making life difficult for crypto enthusiasts by introducing unfriendly rules and preventing businesses around it by blocking exchanges and other business initiatives with sanctions.

Of course, it's not all their financial institutions, but once the strongest are doing so, how long would it take for more issues to arise?

Politicians thrive on hypocrisy, they claim they will do one thing and then they do the opposite, and when confronted about that fact they look at you as if you were crazy and they never said such a thing, that is the kind of person you are talking about, we have known that politicians are against bitcoin and this market for a long time, however they cannot ban it openly on places like the UK because then people will begin to ask questions about the reason behind banning an asset which does not damage to anyone, so they shadow ban it with all kind of regulations which discourage and punish anyone that wants to deal with it.

[avikz]

The link OP has added in the thread, is news for May 2023. I think the UK has now gone the extra mile to introduce a crypto-friendly regulation. I want to share a couple of news links that are more recent,

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/06/19/uk-crypto-stablecoin-laws-approved-by-parliaments-upper-house/

https://www.gadgets360.com/cryptocurrency/news/crypto-regulated-financial-sector-uk-4168432

UK very well understands that if they don't create new job opportunities for their population, that will be disastrous in the future. So things have changed for good.

[Lucius]

Personally, it is not strange to me that such news comes to us from the UK, since for years the official position of their central bank has been very negative when it comes to Bitcoin and generally all other "cryptocurrencies".

Also, I would not call it hypocrisy, but a combination of several factors such as incompetence, ignorance and of course an attempt to preserve the national currency as the basic mechanism of financial security. It doesn't hurt to mention that the UK has been part of the EU for decades, but it has never been part of the eurozone, which speaks for itself.

Furthermore, it should be known that banks protect themselves and their interests, but in a way also the interests of clients from various scams, more and more of which are related to cryptocurrencies. People who are scammed mostly turn to banks for help, and why should banks even deal with such things when it is much easier for them to put a ban on such transactions and protect themselves and their customers.

They actually say "if you really want to invest in crypto find another way, don't do it directly from the bank account".

[EarnOnVictor]

People should understand that the governments are not our friends. Why are you getting mad? Most of the time govs make our lives more difficult. This is just another example of that. The so called crypto-friendly govs like El Salvador and St. Kitts are crypto friendly only because they are using this to attract crypto investors and there is nothing wrong with that... However, these investors don't really prefer countries like El Salvador to make investments, they prefer countries such as France, USA, Germany, UK etc... Let's be honest El Salvador is not a country most of us would dream of living in. In this big picture, as far as I understood it, the UK simply don't give a damn about crypto investors. :/ I guess they don't need our money.

I'm not mad but just been curious about why the government can't allow Equity and Fairness for every sector, especially crypto-related deals.

I've been following the development in the UK in line with cryptocurrency for a while now, and I must say that I'm not so happy about most of the things I read. The hypocrisy of that nation is much, they could have just announced to the whole world that they've banned crypto instead of making life difficult for crypto enthusiasts by introducing unfriendly rules and preventing businesses around it by blocking exchanges and other business initiatives with sanctions.
...

My view is quite agreeable on this issue, the common interests and individual interests of each subject in each situation are different, maybe at that time they have objections and consider it quite negative

Of course, they have objectives but why are they considering it negative since it's business just like others that could go insolvent? If they are truly protecting the interests of the citizens as they have claimed, why are they allowing businesses around gambling and online trading? Because many of such had also liquidated in the past without them blowing the trumpet. This is hypocrisy my friend.

I wouldn't see UK as being hypocrite as regards the regulation of cryptocurrency which is allowed and has been approved.

They are actually hypocrites, see my reply to @bussybuddy above. This is not about regulation, are they not regulating other sectors? Why is it that they are so anti-crypto in their resolves?

This is too obvious.

[vv181]

Can you show me more references especially other than sites that mainly spread referrals/affiliates?

AFAIK, it quite surprises me since the last time I seek around the matter, the UK are thriving to become a crypto hub, I also found out that they have been long-standing to work toward cryptocurrency regulations(https://www.gov.uk/search/all?keywords=crypto&order=relevance). Recently, Andreessen Horowitz also believes in the UK's future concerning about this spaces. So they commit to making a new office over there.

What is important is we should not expect a loose cryptocurrency regulation. It is in the business of the government to set strict and set control on cryptocurrency in general.

[s2]

I think the UK has now gone the extra mile to introduce a crypto-friendly regulation.

I've been in the industry for 6 years now, the UK/FCA has been nothing but a nightmare to work with on crypto front.

I think there is more ignorance than malice, they simply have ruined UK businesses to date and favouring only the larger banks.

Anecdotally, I know a couple companies who moved all operations and market focus outside of UK yet their entire dev teams still reside in the UK and won't service UK customers.

To say UK is crypto friendly is simply untrue unfortunately.

From UK banks I still hear the 'yay blockchain, yay cbdc, yay NFTs' because they have very poor advisors (managment consultants I think is the polite term) who blagged a senior position and talk with such confidence yet have no idea about the real economics or technical merits of the technologies.

Santander and one other that I can't name are somewhat ahead of these others though and now progressing on the lightning band wagon.

[harapan]

Can you imagine? Banks claim to be blocking people and businesses because of the FTX collapse. How many banks have they stopped because of the ugly past of many UK banks that went insolvent?

The problem of one establishment out of many should never be a yardstick in judging others. For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

The banks nowadays are fighting against something that, day after day, is becoming bigger and bigger and they don't know how to stop it. The smart banks will embrace cryptos and make a profit out of it; other banks, like those that are blockings transfers for stupid reasons like "your own security" will just end up like the dinosaurs did. Maybe not in 1 year, maybe not in 5 and not even in 10, but eventually they will.

Those banks that come up with the "your own security" excuse and lazy. They can't even come up with a better excuse. They can't even guarantee their own security so why should I trust them?
Smart banks would know by now that they can't win against Bitcoin. Maybe they can win against other centralized altcoins, but when it comes to Bitcoin, all they can do is fight, they can't win. And the longer they fight, the longer they miss out.
Bitcoin stands against every fraudulent wall they build.
They should be lucky there are still people who don't trust Bitcoin but trust fiat.
Banks mismanage customers funds all the time but they're here acting like our personal lord and savior, it's so bad people are still falling for that crap.

[Wimex]

Governments and financial institutions around the world are taking different approaches to cryptocurrencies, and these approaches can vary widely. Some countries have adopted a more restrictive stance, while others are looking for ways to regulate and harness the potential of cryptocurrencies… The introduction of stricter regulations may affect cryptocurrency enthusiasts and related businesses. Governments most often seek to balance innovation and consumer protection, which can lead to the implementation of stricter regulatory measures.

Crypto in the uk is big business. My website is crypto related and a vast majority of my visitors are coming from uk. I think when given the freedom to choose to use crypto, people will choose it irrespective of the rules and regulations surrounding it. If you google crypto in uk, you will get this result showing you all need to know about crypto in uk. https://sumsub.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uk-crypto-regulations-2023-guide/ .

I also found some information on the subject: https://freemanlaw.com/cryptocurrency/united-kingdom/

The only thing I can say is that it is difficult to predict how policies and regulations will evolve in the future… there may be changes in the position of governments and new initiatives that could have an impact on the  Bitcoin ecosystem.

[panganib999]

I've been following the development in the UK in line with cryptocurrency for a while now, and I must say that I'm not so happy about most of the things I read. The hypocrisy of that nation is much, they could have just announced to the whole world that they've banned crypto instead of making life difficult for crypto enthusiasts by introducing unfriendly rules and preventing businesses around it by blocking exchanges and other business initiatives with sanctions.

Of course, it's not all their financial institutions, but once the strongest are doing so, how long would it take for more issues to arise?

Why UK banks are blocking transfers to and from crypto exchanges
As of 2023, many UK high street banks are blocking payments to and from major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase due to increased security concerns post the collapse of the FTX exchange.

Can you imagine? Banks claim to be blocking people and businesses because of the FTX collapse. How many banks have they stopped because of the ugly past of many UK banks that went insolvent?

The problem of one establishment out of many should never be a yardstick in judging others. For me, these banks are anti-crypto and their actions are high level of hypocrisy.

Isn't Rishi someone that's a proponent of the cryptocurrency movement? Why is it that it's still something that's being talked about up till now?

Is the monarchy actively opposing them? What gives?

Crypto in the uk is big business. My website is crypto related and a vast majority of my visitors are coming from uk. I think when given the freedom to choose to use crypto, people will choose it irrespective of the rules and regulations surrounding it. If you google crypto in uk, you will get this result showing you all need to know about crypto in uk. https://sumsub.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uk-crypto-regulations-2023-guide/ .

So you mean to say that even with all this shenanigans of "UK going against the concept of crypto" going on, the whole country is pretty much cool with it? well that's good enough and I expect of that cause UK's outright one of the biggest cryptocurrency movers in the whole planet, and all this time I thought everything was going fine and dandy there cause Rishi's a cryptocurrency proponent and I had hoped his sentiments trickled down to the rest of the country but as it sounds today it feels like everyone in the upper echelons of the UK government is dogging on it.

[Argoo]

I do not see anything strange in this behavior of UK banks. Banks are an economic and at the same time a political instrument of any state, regardless of their form of ownership. Even in minor matters, they must act strictly according to the instructions of the higher authorities. And almost all states are not very friendly towards cryptocurrency. Therefore, it would be foolish to assume that their governments will stand by as the cryptocurrency grows and gains strength and influence among the population. At the same time, it must listen to the opinion of its future constituents. Therefore, this process is ambiguous. This explains why governments cannot decide on their attitude towards cryptocurrency, although they are trying to tighten its regulation in some places. The degree of freedom of speech and the rights of the population is also of great importance here.

[OcTradism]

Those banks that come up with the "your own security" excuse and lazy. They can't even come up with a better excuse. They can't even guarantee their own security so why should I trust them?

Trust them and sacrifice your privacy while security is unknown. Who will make this bet?

Smart banks would know by now that they can't win against Bitcoin. Maybe they can win against other centralized altcoins, but when it comes to Bitcoin, all they can do is fight, they can't win. And the longer they fight, the longer they miss out.

Central banks and commercial banks know that Bitcoin is a big risk for them. When more people know about strength of Bitcoin network and Bitcoin transactions like its strong decentralization, capacity to proceed transactions safely and irreversibly, no censorship, more people will use Bitcoin network more than bank wires to transfer their funds.

Bitcoin stands against every fraudulent wall they build.
They should be lucky there are still people who don't trust Bitcoin but trust fiat.
Banks mismanage customers funds all the time but they're here acting like our personal lord and savior, it's so bad people are still falling for that crap.

There will be people who trust Bitcoin, trust banks only and there will be people who trust both, use both. Central banks, commercial banks, Bitcoin will continue to serve human societies and none of them will disappear or die.

[Bitcoinpoly]

I think the UK government strengthened the rules because of the FTX incident; this is a lesson learned. We should select some secure exchanges like Coinbase and Bitget.

[coindigitalcoin]

Indeed their policies have been brutally harsh toward the whole tech sector, definitely backfiring on them with any innovation being pushed elsewhere. Literally just seen the news today that even Apple and Meta will be pulling their services out from UK users (Imessage and Whatsapp) potentially. Hopefully we don't see the same with whatever crypto companies are left, really only Binance and Bitget left that I know still accept direct deposit from my banks here. Maybe crypto.com but not hundred percent sure about that one. Hopefully were moving in the right direction with the new stable coin regulations receiving Royal Assent.