GoCheckMyCrypto.comUK Parliament launches inquiry into banking restrictions on crypto firms
The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group, chaired by former minister Ed Vaizey and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan, opened a cross-party inquiry on July 21 into UK banks' refusal to serve crypto businesses and restrictions on crypto-related payments. The group is inviting six weeks of written evidence from banking, payments, fintech and crypto sectors and will publish findings and recommendations to the government.
The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group opened a formal inquiry on July 21 into the systematic refusal of major UK banks to serve crypto businesses and the restrictions they impose on crypto-related payments. The move marks Parliament's formal entry into a battle over banking access that crypto firms have fought for years.
The inquiry, chaired by Ed Vaizey, a former Minister for the Digital Economy and House of Lords member, and Gurinder Singh Josan, a Labour MP, will examine whether banks are blocking crypto firms from accounts and imposing transfer limits or payment restrictions. The group is not investigating a single bank or transaction, but rather the pattern itself, according to CoinDesk's reporting.
The parliamentary group is inviting written evidence from the banking, payments, fintech and crypto sectors over a six-week call for evidence period. The scope extends beyond bank accounts to include restrictions on professional services tied to crypto, such as insurance, per the APPG's framing. Vaizey said the group "has heard consistent reports from crypto and digital asset businesses that they face difficulties accessing bank accounts and banking services, alongside concerns about restrictions on crypto-related transactions by banks."
The inquiry will focus on three questions: how restrictions are being applied, whether they are proportionate, and what impact they have on consumers, businesses, innovation and competition. The APPG will publish a report setting out its findings and recommendations to the UK government after the evidence period closes. The sources do not specify a timeline for publication.
The action echoes concerns raised in the United States, where similar banking restrictions on crypto firms have been referred to as "Operation Chokepoint 2.0," according to CoinDesk. However, the reporting does not detail how the UK inquiry's scope or findings might differ from US experience, nor do banks or UK regulators appear to have responded publicly to the inquiry's framing.
What remains unaddressed: the reporting does not specify which banks the inquiry considers primary subjects, define what threshold separates proportionate restrictions from impermissible de-banking, or outline what enforcement mechanisms or legislative changes might follow from the APPG's recommendations.
The UK's cross-party parliamentary inquiry will examine whether major banks are systematically blocking crypto firms from accounts and imposing disproportionate restrictions on crypto transactions.
Watch the evidence submissions over the next six weeks: which banks and which restrictions are named, and whether the inquiry produces legislative recommendations or regulatory pressure. If the APPG's report leads to formal government action on banking policy, that would signal a material shift in how UK authorities treat crypto access to financial infrastructure.
And that's the way it is.
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