UK Regulator Proposes Ban on Buying Crypto With Credit Cards

Britain’s prime monetary regulator has proposed banning the acquisition of cryptocurrency with any kind of borrowed funds, together with bank cards. 

A brand new dialogue paper from the UK’s Monetary Conduct Authority floated a plan this week to outlaw crypto corporations from permitting British prospects to purchase crypto property with a bank card. The proposed rule would additionally ban the acquisition of crypto with every other type of credit score, together with loans and digital forex credit score strains.

The transfer seems largely pushed by the regulator’s concern that UK adults are going into debt to purchase crypto, a “dangerous” observe, given the inherent volatility of digital property.



“We’re involved that buyers shopping for crypto property with credit score could tackle unsustainable debt, significantly if the worth of their crypto asset drops they usually had been counting on its worth to repay,” the FCA stated. 

A YouGov survey just lately commissioned by the Authority discovered that 14% of UK crypto customers reported utilizing credit score to purchase digital property in August 2024. That determine marked a 133% uptick from two years prior. 

The proposal, if handed, wouldn’t essentially influence all crypto property, nonetheless. The FCA stated that stablecoins licensed by its regulatory regime would doubtless be exempt from the credit score ban.

The FCA has now opened the rulemaking to public remark. It says it’ll settle for enter on the proposal till June 13.

Different crypto-related proposals put forth by the FCA embrace a rule that will make crypto staking corporations chargeable for monetary losses suffered by retail shoppers the place the agency has “inadequately assessed its technological and operational resilience, together with third-party dependencies,” together with a ban on all crypto lending and borrowing platforms.

Edited by Andrew Hayward