Amid the United Kingdom taking a tougher regulatory stance on the cryptocurrency industry, a major local advertising industry organization has announced a crackdown on crypto ads. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator, plans to launch a major effort this month to hunt and shut down misleading crypto adverts, the Financial Times reported Friday. Miles Lockwood, ASA’s director of complaints, said that the authority would particularly target irresponsible crypto ads shown online and on social media platforms, adding: “We see this as an absolutely crucial and priority area for us. Where we do find problems, we will …

Spain-based bank Santander’s U.K. business will no longer be allowing its customers to send payments to Binance, citing warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority. Several replies from Santander’s U.K. Twitter help account today said the bank has “decided to prevent payments” to the world’s biggest crypto exchange in an effort to prevent fraud. The bank reportedly told customers they would still be able to withdraw cash from Binance, but it would be “following the FCA’s warning to consumers” in banning payments. Many Santander account holders expressed negative feelings about the bank’s decision: “As one of your long standing account holders, …

A new survey paints a bleak picture of British crypto investors' motivations, knowledge and exposure when it comes to their investments. Almost two in five (36%) of retail crypto investors in the country have conceded that their understanding of the sector was "poor or non-existent" when they made their first investments. As time has gone on, 21% of investors holding crypto still rated their knowledge of the sector as being equally low. The survey was conducted by Oxford Risk, a commercial software firm whose focus is on products for wealth managers and financial services firms. While small – just 1,038 …

Regulatory constraints facing Binance have forced the popular cryptocurrency exchange to temporarily halt bank transfers denominated in euros, according to an email sent to its customers on Tuesday. Specifically, euro deposits via the Single Europe Payments Area, or SEPA, have been put on hold indefinitely due to circumstances beyond the exchange’s control, Binance said in the email: “Due to events beyond our control, we are temporarily suspending EUR deposits via SEPA Bank Transfers from 8 am UTC on July 7, 2021.” Although Binance didn't specify the reason for temporarily halting SEPA transfers, the decision likely stems from the onslaught of …

Barclays’ decision to stop facilitating British customers’ payments to Binance has been met with criticism by the cryptocurrency exchange after a spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the bank acted with “an inaccurate understanding of events.” “We are disappointed that Barclays appears to have taken unilateral action based on what appears to be an inaccurate understanding of events,” the spokesperson said, referring to a recent edict by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) barring Binance Markets Limited from operating in the country. “The FCA notice relates to [Binance Markets Limited], which is a company incorporated in the U.K. and regulated by …

Customers have been reporting that Barclays, a British multinational universal bank, has been blocking payments to Binance cryptocurrency exchange over the last week. The financial services giant has confirmed to cardholders that Barclays debit/credit card payments to the cryptocurrency exchange will not be allowed until further notice. One of crypto investment dashboard Wealth Kode’s co-founders, who goes by Lee on Twitter, posted a text notification from Barclays Monday that read: “As you’ve made a payment to Binance this year, we wanted to let you know that we’re stopping payments made by credit/debit card to them until further notice. This is …

It is no longer possible to download the Bitcoin Core software from Bitcoin.org if you visit the website with a United Kingdom internet protocol (IP) address. A notice on the website reads: “This software is presently not available for download in the UK, and download links will not work if you are located within the United Kingdom.” Indeed, attempting to proceed with downloading the Bitcoin (BTC) software from the site using a U.K. IP returns a “404 error.” Detailing the reason for blocking access to the software download for U.K. site visitors, Bitcoin.org’s pseudonymous owner Cøbra responded to a tweet …

Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the Exchequer for the United Kingdom, has included cryptocurrencies and stablecoins on the list of financial reforms the government plans to undertake in the next few years. Speaking to lawmakers at the Lord Mayor of London’s residence on Thursday, the chancellor said the U.K. government would be implementing recommendations to establish the country as a center of fintech innovation and business. Though Sunak said the U.K. would be protecting its citizens’ access to cash, he added authorities would be monitoring updates in finance and technology as well as working on its own reforms regarding digital assets. …

Leading decentralized crypto exchange by trade volume Binance has restored British pound withdrawals using the Faster Payments network. On June 28, Binance uploaded a notice revealing that withdrawals via Faster Payments, a popular United Kingdom-based inter-bank payments platform, had been suspended for maintenance. The news came the same week the U.K.’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ordered Binance Markets Limited and the Binance Group to cease all regulated activities relating to derivatives and securities in the country. This led many to infer the sudden and seemingly opaque suspension of Faster Payments could signal further troubles ahead for the …

The world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance, has faced regulatory upheaval over the past week as jurisdictions clamped down on the use of unauthorized exchanges and warned citizens against accessing them. For Binance, adopting the moniker of “global exchange” has done very little to appease regulators that require specific licenses to offer financial services to their citizens. Below is a brief recap of recent regulatory actions surrounding Binance. Japan On June 25, Japan’s Financial Services Agency, or FSA, accused Binance of operating in the country without proper registration – potentially setting the stage for a protracted legal battle with regulators. …

The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) crypto licensing regime is reportedly proving arduous for cryptocurrency businesses looking to operate in the country. According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, the number of withdrawn licensing applications from crypto businesses increased by over 25% in June. Indeed, Cointelegraph reported near the beginning of the month that 51 crypto firms had withdrawn earlier submitted filings for registration with the FCA. An FCA spokesperson quoted by Reuters said that 13 more companies have pulled out of the approval process, bringing the total number of withdrawals to 64. Since January 2020, the FCA has …

Crypto-friendly trading platform eToro is expecting regulators to ratchet up their oversight of the crypto industry, given the increasingly high levels of participation by retail traders and smaller investors. In comments for the Financial Times, eToro CEO Yoni Assia said: “We are seeing a significant increase in the interest of retail investors and traders in the crypto market. As a part of that growth we should expect also regulators to carefully look at this growing business of retail investors in the crypto markets.” At the start of this year, eToro had itself struggled to keep up with “unprecedented” demand from …