Banks Block Crypto Firms Amid Compliance Concerns and Economic Interests
The banking industry's relationship with cryptocurrency providers is complex and often contentious. According to a report by the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, Startup Coalition, and Global Digital Finance, nearly half of UK crypto and Web3 firms surveyed in January 2025 had been rejected for a business bank account or had one closed by a major bank.
A year later, the situation hadn't improved. The same council's follow-up report found that banks were blocking or delaying roughly 40% of payments to crypto exchanges, with 80% of exchanges surveyed saying the friction had worsened over the prior year.
The explanation for this is largely due to compliance issues, as cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers bring sanctions exposure, high transaction volumes, and downstream wallet holders that most correspondent banking infrastructure was not built to monitor.