Nationwide and HSBC have imposed fresh restrictions on customers’ ability to purchase crypto assets.

Both banks will now decline customer payments to crypto exchanges using its credit cards, while Nationwide has set a £5,000 daily limit on crypto payments made using its debit cards.

Nationwide has also decided to impose a blanket ban on payments to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, citing on its website that this decision follows similar action from other providers, negative media coverage and regulatory uncertainty.

A spokesperson for Nationwide said the decision had been taken to “help protect its members from cryptocurrency scams”, while HSBC told Bloomberg the move was made because of the possible risk to customers.

The banks have each attributed their decision to impose the restrictions to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) warning that cryptoassets are considered “very high risk, speculative purchases”.

The restrictions also follow a recent rise in scandals and collapses connected to prominent crypto exchanges including Terraform and FTX.

HSBC and Nationwide join banks including Santander and Lloyds in imposing crypto restrictions.

At the time, a Lloyds spokesperson said: “This is a case of protecting our credit card customers from the risks associated with the price volatility of cryptocurrencies seen over recent months.”

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