Bitcoin companies in the UK are struggling to find a bank. Many banking services are no longer offered to companies that do something with bitcoin or crypto.

This is in stark contrast to the plans of British prime minister Rishi Sunak. The prime minister previously said that he wants to turn the UK (and specifically London) into a real cryptohub. Much of what is happening in the financial world of the current system (partly) takes place in London. If it is up to the British, they continue to hold such a position. But that doesn’t mean that as a bitcoin company you can do anything.

According to PitchBook, a clear trend can be seen: investors in companies in digital assets do not end up in Great Britain. According to their figures, investment in industry fell sharply, while in Europe, on the contrary, it increased. This is partly due to the legal framework that Europe has and receives. There is a lot of uncertainty about this industry, then it does not help

Crypto businesses in the UK now often have to use payment service providers such as BCB Payments and Stripe to start or continue. CryptoUK, a self-regulatory Industry Association, has proposed creating a” white list ” of registered companies in the country to address banks restricting or banning transactions to crypto companies.

It shows how different the attitude of banks and governments towards bitcoin can be in different countries.

The HSBC and the Nationwide Building Society are two major banks in the UK that are harassing crypto users. Both banks impose a ban on crypto purchases from their customers. The move followed a message from the UK regulator Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They call cryptocurrency a high-risk investment.

According to the reporting, HSBC banned consumers from making crypto purchases with their credit cards last month. According to the bank, they make this decision because of a clear financial risk for customers.

Meanwhile, nationwide has reportedly sent an email to its customers on Thursday informing them of crypto purchase limits:

“We do not allow payments to crypto exchanges with a Nationwide credit card […] both you and people with older payment cards can no longer use the Nationwide credit card to buy cryptocurrencies.”