UK Bank Nationwide Has Restricted Card Payments to Binance

U.K. bank Nationwide Building Society has restricted card payments made by users to cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Card payments to Binance are being declined by the U.K. bank "until further notice," according to a page on its website, adding that customers can still withdraw funds on Binance through their Nationwide account.

While the website didn't say when the policy was instigated, a tweet dating from 2021 indicates the decision was made that July. Earlier in the same month, shortly after the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned that Binance was not allowed to conduct any regulated activity in the country, the lender said it was assessing its policies on crypto transactions.

Nationwide said it took the decision due to "media coverage" and "regulatory uncertainty." The bank is also concerned about "the rising number of scams," according to a post on its Twitter page.

Neither Nationwide nor Binance responded to CoinDesk's request for further comment.

UPDATE (Feb. 3, 12:15 UTC): Adds date of policy in third paragraph.

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Jamie Crawley

Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.

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