British officials have said they want banks to treat all businesses fairly, including crypto service providers, as part of the government’s ambition to make the country an international hub for digital assets.
A spokesman for the UK’s Economy and Finance Ministry told CoinDesk on Tuesday that the government has introduced crypto-asset regulatory legislation to parliament, with final rules expected to be confirmed this year to “provide crypto businesses with the certainty they need to invest and grow in the UK.”
The announcement comes after a cryptocurrency lobby group and Coinbase accused the UK bank of blocking millions of customers from accessing “completely” legal digital asset services.
“We want businesses to be treated fairly,” a UK Treasury spokesperson told CoinDesk, adding that cryptocurrency firms authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) should not be treated differently simply because of their industry.
“We do not expect such licensed companies to be subject to account or transaction restrictions from banking service providers,” the spokesperson said.
The UK Cryptoasset Business Council said in a report that even as the UK’s cryptocurrency regulatory framework has taken shape, many banks continue to block customers from accessing FCA-registered cryptocurrency exchanges.
The report, based on a survey of 10 major cryptocurrency exchanges operating legally in the UK, found that 7 of them said that the banking environment will become worse in 2025, while 3 said that the banking environment will remain the same.
Read more: Coinbase CEO says big banks now see cryptocurrencies as an ‘existential’ threat to their businesses
The FCA’s register of crypto-asset companies that comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules currently includes 59 companies, including Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini.
The regulator last week launched final consultations on the rules, which will come into force in October 2027. Treasury legislation passed in late 2025 would extend existing financial rules to cover the industry.
Tom Duff Gordon, head of international policy at Coinbase, told CoinDesk that the report showed that British banks were preventing millions of customers from accessing “fully legal and compliant services, often without explanation and without proper risk assessment.”
Gordon accused banks of imposing blanket restrictions and failing to distinguish between FCA-registered firms with lower fraud rates and higher-risk operators. “This is bad for consumers,” he said, “and undermines the government’s ambition to make the UK a digital financial hub.” He added: “We support strong regulation, but people who complete all the necessary checks should be able to access legal, regulated services without arbitrary barriers.”
