CoinTalk

UK Banks Tighten the Screws on Crypto as Regulation Inches Forward

The United Kingdom’s ambition to become a global hub for cryptocurrency innovation is facing a growing contradiction. While lawmakers and regulators are slowly laying down a clearer legal framework for digital assets, the country’s banking sector appears to be moving in the opposite direction, increasingly restricting access to crypto markets for everyday users and businesses alike.

Industry insiders warn that this widening gap between regulation and banking practice risks undermining the UK’s competitiveness in the global crypto economy, pushing innovation and capital toward more accommodating jurisdictions.

A Banking Environment Turning Cold on Crypto

Despite progress on the regulatory front, British banks have intensified their restrictions on cryptocurrency-related transactions over the past year. According to a recent report from the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, the majority of major crypto exchanges operating in the country are experiencing growing resistance from domestic banks, even when those exchanges are fully registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

The findings paint a stark picture. Most exchanges surveyed reported a noticeable rise in customers facing blocked or delayed bank transfers in 2025, with a significant portion of attempted transactions failing to go through. For many users, this has translated into frustration and uncertainty, as access to legitimate and regulated crypto platforms becomes increasingly unreliable.

FCA Registration Offers Little Relief

The Financial Conduct Authority currently lists dozens of crypto firms that have met the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements. These include some of the largest and most reputable names in the global crypto industry. In theory, registration should provide reassurance to banks and customers alike.

In practice, however, FCA approval has done little to ease banking restrictions. Crypto exchanges report that even after complying with regulatory requirements, they continue to face blanket limits, heightened scrutiny, or outright blocks imposed by major banks. For businesses that invested heavily in compliance, the disconnect is difficult to justify.

Several exchanges have quietly acknowledged that the situation has forced them to rethink their UK strategies, with some prioritizing expansion in other regions where access to banking services is less constrained.

Billions in Transactions Left in Limbo

The economic impact of these restrictions is far from trivial. One crypto exchange disclosed that it recorded close to $1.4 billion in declined transactions over the course of 2025, solely due to bank-side rejections. Industry representatives argue that such figures highlight a systemic issue rather than isolated risk management decisions.

From their perspective, what is unfolding amounts to a form of  debanking  that threatens the growth of the UK’s digital asset ecosystem. As transaction limits tighten and blocks become more common, both retail investors and crypto firms are finding it harder to operate within the traditional financial system.

Why Banks Are Standing Firm

UK banks, for their part, show little sign of backing down. Major institutions such as HSBC, Barclays and NatWest have implemented caps on how much customers can transfer to crypto platforms. Others, including Chase UK, Metro Bank, TSB and Starling Bank, have gone further by blocking crypto-related payments altogether.

Banks justify these policies by pointing to fraud prevention, consumer protection and the inherent volatility of digital assets. Starling Bank, for example, has publicly stated that it does not allow customers to buy or sell cryptocurrencies via bank transfer or debit card, framing the decision as a protective measure rather than an ideological stance against crypto.

Industry bodies representing the banking sector echo this reasoning, emphasizing that individual institutions are obligated to make risk-based decisions in response to scams, financial crime and regulatory uncertainty.

Regulation Moves Forward, But Trust Lags Behind

Ironically, these banking crackdowns are unfolding just as the UK’s regulatory roadmap for crypto becomes clearer. The Treasury has already moved to extend existing financial rules to cover digital assets, and the FCA has begun consultations on a new regulatory framework expected to be implemented by 2027.

Regulators have signaled a more open and pragmatic approach compared to earlier years, particularly in areas such as stablecoins and crypto custody. Yet, the banking sector’s cautious stance suggests that regulatory clarity alone may not be enough to restore trust.

For crypto firms, the message feels mixed. On one hand, the government promotes innovation and leadership in digital finance. On the other, access to basic banking services remains uncertain, even for compliant businesses.

A Risk to the UK’s Crypto Ambitions

As global competition for crypto talent, capital and innovation intensifies, the UK faces a critical test. If banks continue to restrict access faster than regulation can reassure them, the country risks losing its appeal as a destination for digital asset companies.

For now, the tension between regulators, banks and the crypto industry remains unresolved. Whether upcoming rules will ease banking fears—or further entrench them—may determine whether the UK truly becomes a leader in the next phase of global crypto finance, or watches that opportunity slip away.

Deus X Ceo Tim Grant: Integrating Finance, Not Replacing It

A Different Kind of Crypto Leader

In an industry often dominated by bold promises to overthrow traditional finance, Tim Grant stands apart. As CEO of Deus X Capital, Grant is not interested in disruption for the sake of disruption. His vision is more pragmatic, more grounded, and ultimately more ambitious: to merge the efficiency of blockchain technology with the stability and scale of global financial markets. As digital assets continue to mature, Grant’s approach reflects a broader shift in the industry—from experimentation to execution, from speculation to infrastructure.

From Traditional Finance to Digital Assets

Tim Grant’s journey into crypto did not begin with Bitcoin maximalism or ideological opposition to banks. In fact, when he first encountered the digital asset space in 2015, he had no technical background in blockchain at all. What changed everything was a series of early meetings in San Francisco with executive teams at Ripple and Coinbase. Those conversations revealed something deeper than price charts and tokens: a new financial toolkit capable of fixing long-standing inefficiencies in global markets.

Grant quickly recognized blockchain’s potential to improve settlement speeds, reduce operational costs, and increase transparency across financial systems. Crucially, he did not see these benefits as a replacement for traditional finance, but as a natural extension of it. By the end of 2015, he had fully committed to the digital asset space, a decision that would define the next chapter of his career.

The Birth of Deus X Capital

Deus X Capital emerged as a unique hybrid between an investment firm and an operating company. Backed by a family office and launched with approximately one billion dollars in assets, the firm was designed to go beyond passive investing. With a global footprint spanning London, Malta, and the United Arab Emirates, Deus X operates at the intersection of capital markets, fintech, and digital assets.

Rather than chasing trends, the firm focuses on building long-term financial infrastructure. Its mandate is clear: unlock value across regulated digital finance while contributing to a fairer and more accessible financial system. This dual identity—as both investor and operator—has become the cornerstone of its strategy.

An Infrastructure-Led Growth Strategy

At the heart of Deus X’s philosophy is a deliberately hands-on, infrastructure-first approach. Grant believes that true value creation in digital finance comes from owning and operating the rails, not just funding companies that use them. By combining capital deployment with direct operational involvement, Deus X aims to achieve stronger execution and more resilient, risk-adjusted returns.

This strategy spans multiple layers of the digital finance stack. From payments and treasury solutions to prime services, market infrastructure, execution tools, and institutional decentralized finance, Deus X positions itself wherever regulated digital finance meets real-world demand. The result is an ecosystem where investments are not isolated bets, but interconnected components of a larger financial machine.

Building an Interconnected Venture Ecosystem

Deus X’s growing portfolio reflects this ecosystem-driven mindset. Businesses such as Deus X Pay, Cor Prime, and Solstice are designed to solve specific market challenges while sharing underlying infrastructure and strategic direction. Rather than competing internally, these ventures reinforce one another, allowing growth to compound organically.

This model enables Deus X to move faster than traditional investment firms while maintaining regulatory discipline. Each venture benefits from shared expertise, technology, and capital, creating efficiencies that would be difficult to achieve in a fragmented portfolio.

Why Regulation and Institutions Matter

For Grant, the future of digital assets depends on meaningful engagement with institutions and regulators. He is outspoken about the need to move beyond hype and focus on production-ready systems that can operate within existing legal frameworks. Payments, treasury management, tokenization, prime brokerage, and institutional DeFi are not theoretical concepts in his world—they are active areas of deployment.

This emphasis on regulation does not limit innovation; instead, it enables scale. By building compliant infrastructure from the ground up, Deus X positions itself as a bridge between traditional finance and the next generation of digital financial services.

Consensus Hong Kong: Substance Over Spectacle

Grant’s upcoming appearance at Consensus Hong Kong reflects his broader philosophy. He has made it clear that he is not interested in buzzwords or surface-level conversations. His focus is on what he calls  real talk only —honest discussions about what is working, what is not, and what it will take to bring digital finance into full-scale production.

With exposure across investing, venture building, and direct operations, Grant brings a rare, holistic perspective to the stage. His message is aimed at builders, regulators, and institutional players who are serious about deploying digital finance in the real world.

The Long-Term Vision for Digital Finance

Tim Grant’s vision for Deus X is ultimately about integration. He does not believe the future lies in tearing down existing financial systems, but in upgrading them. Blockchain, in his view, is not an enemy of traditional finance—it is a powerful enhancement.

As the digital asset industry matures, voices like Grant’s are becoming increasingly influential. By prioritizing infrastructure, regulation, and collaboration, Deus X represents a model of how crypto can evolve from a disruptive force into a foundational layer of global finance. In a space often driven by noise, Grant’s message is clear, measured, and increasingly hard to ignore.

When Crypto Whales Turn to Gold: What the Tokenized Gold Surge Really Signals

The crypto market is witnessing a subtle but meaningful shift. While Bitcoin drifts sideways and traders wait for a decisive breakout, a growing number of large investors are quietly rotating into gold — not through traditional vaults or banks, but directly on-chain. This move is not a rejection of crypto. Instead, it reflects how sophisticated capital navigates uncertainty using the tools of the digital asset ecosystem itself.

Recent on-chain activity shows that tokenized gold has entered a rare demand zone, one not seen in more than a decade when measured against broader macro stress indicators. The implications go far beyond a simple  risk-off  trade.

Tokenized Gold Steps Into the Whale Arena

Late January saw blockchain analysts flag several high-value withdrawals of tokenized gold from centralized exchanges. Wallets linked to crypto whales collectively removed more than $14 million worth of gold-backed tokens such as XAUT and PAXG from major trading venues.

These were not short-term speculative trades. Exchange withdrawals of this scale typically signal long-duration positioning, with holders choosing self-custody over liquidity. While tokenized gold does not automatically imply physical delivery, it mirrors gold’s price action while retaining crypto-native settlement speed and flexibility.

This matters because it shows how safe-haven demand is now being expressed inside crypto infrastructure, rather than outside of it.

Gold Leads While Bitcoin Waits

The timing of this rotation is critical. Spot gold has surged aggressively, holding above historically extreme levels after attracting defensive capital from institutions, central banks, and macro-focused funds. Bitcoin, by contrast, has entered a period of compression. Price action has flattened, volatility has dropped, and conviction is being tested.

Bitcoin’s year-to-date performance remains marginal despite persistent narratives around monetary debasement and institutional adoption. This divergence suggests that the current phase of the  distrust trade  is favoring stability over convexity.

For large players, gold absorbs uncertainty first. Bitcoin often follows later, once liquidity conditions shift from protection to expansion.

Why Tokenized Gold Matters More Than Physical Gold Right Now

Gold demand itself is not new. What is new is where that demand is appearing. Tokenized gold trades continuously, settles instantly, and integrates seamlessly with crypto portfolios. Investors do not need to exit exchanges, move capital through banks, or wait days for settlement.

For crypto-native capital, tokenized gold acts as a hedge without abandoning the ecosystem. It lives on the same rails as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins. That makes it uniquely attractive during periods of macro stress when investors want safety without friction.