Throughout the globe, it stays frequent for crypto customers to have their financial institution accounts frozen and transfers blocked, at the same time as institutional adoption rises.
Panos Mekras, co-founder and CEO of blockchain fintech Anodos Labs, started coping with crypto in Greece within the late 2010s. Most Greek banks didn’t permit transfers to crypto exchanges again then. Mekras skilled blocked card funds till one financial institution lastly permitted his transfers, however first, he was questioned to make sure he understood he was interacting with a “risky” counterparty.
Mekras advised Cointelegraph that these early rejections are symptomatic of how banks deal with digital property as inherently excessive danger. That label typically led to account closures or sudden freezes with out clarification, in the end pushing his enterprise to rely solely on onchain instruments and fee rails.
Public notion of crypto has since developed. Now, crypto is present process a picture refresh, from a speculative asset class to an infrastructure layer for future monetary merchandise. Nevertheless, Mekras stated he nonetheless experiences the identical banking boundaries, as not too long ago as a “few months ago”:
“I tried to send money from an exchange to Revolut, and they froze my account for three weeks. I had no access to my [funds] during that time.”
The lengthy shadow of crypto debanking
Mekras isn’t the lone crypto holder with such complaints regardless of banks saying expansions into custody and blockchain initiatives.
A January report from the UK Cryptoasset Enterprise Council discovered that financial institution transfers to exchanges had been being blocked or delayed, with roughly 40% of funds encountering restrictions and 80% of exchanges reporting elevated friction over the previous yr.
The council warned that blanket bans and transaction limits are sometimes utilized with out regard to the authorized standing of the alternate.
Revolut is considered one of two banks that let each financial institution transfers and debit playing cards within the UK council’s research, and it is usually the platform the place Mekras claims to have skilled his current account freeze. It operates as a licensed UK financial institution “with restrictions,” that means it’s at the moment increase its banking processes earlier than full launch. It additionally holds a European Union banking license by means of Lithuania and gives crypto buying and selling providers in its app.
A Revolut spokesperson advised Cointelegraph it treats account freezes as a “last-resort” buyer safety measure in compliance with Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) and Know Your Buyer (KYC) laws.
“A temporary freeze may occur if our systems detect irregular activity. This could be a combination of a few factors, such as if a customer interacts with a platform frequently exploited by fraudsters, or we believe that the funds in question may be the proceeds of crime or sanctions circumvention,” the spokesperson stated.
The consultant added that since Oct. 1, simply 0.7% of Revolut accounts the place prospects deposited crypto funds had been restricted or frozen after investigation.
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When banks shut doorways, customers transfer onchain
In some areas, crypto is blocked and leaves customers to extra excessive restrictions. Crypto on- and off-ramps should not legally potential in areas like China, so customers resort to peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or black markets to commerce crypto.
Whereas China sits on the acute finish of the spectrum, different jurisdictions have eased official and unofficial restrictions. Nigeria as soon as banned crypto and even blocked P2P platforms. Nevertheless, it formally acknowledged digital property as securities in 2025.
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Related banking friction patterns additionally emerged within the US. Lawmakers and the business have invoked the time period “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” to explain the federal regulators’ casual steering that discouraged banks from sustaining relationships with crypto corporations.
The unique “Operation Choke Point” was an initiative through which enforcement companies had been accused of pressuring banks to chop ties with politically contentious industries resembling payday lenders and firearms sellers.
In January 2025, Donald Trump took workplace because the president of the US and has been pushing for crypto-friendly insurance policies to place the world’s largest economic system because the “crypto capital” of the world.
Crypto debanking points have since been formally acknowledged. In December, the US Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex (OCC) launched its findings on debanking practices by 9 of the nation’s largest banks. The OCC additionally revealed an interpretive letter to verify that banks could facilitate crypto transactions in a broker-like capability.
Whatever the constructive momentum, customers nonetheless complain that the banking sector received’t service accounts uncovered to cryptocurrencies.
“This is still the case [and] there are still anti-crypto positions. Some have even said publicly that they are not willing to support crypto activity or engage with the industry,” stated Mekras.
Mekras argued that customers can take into account absolutely detaching from the standard banking system and shifting funds onchain. It sounds viable in idea, however in actuality, most companies and customers nonetheless can’t function purely inside crypto with out dependable entry to fiat rails.
Banking’s flip towards blockchain infrastructure
In recent times, there was a worldwide shift in how conventional monetary establishments interact with crypto.
Main banks and monetary infrastructures are more and more constructing services and products tied to Web3. Within the US, 60% of the highest 25 banks are reportedly providing or planning Bitcoin-related providers, together with custody, buying and selling and advisory options.
Throughout Europe, regulated providers resembling crypto custody and settlement are being launched by legacy exchanges and monetary teams below the Markets in Crypto-Property Laws (MiCA). Within the UK, HSBC’s blockchain platform was chosen to assist pilot issuances of tokenized authorities bonds.
In that backdrop of institutional adoption, some corporations working to bridge banks and blockchain declare that the challenges that result in account freezes are linked to tooling gaps and danger frameworks inside banks.
“The problem is that there’s a huge amount of friction because traditional banks don’t really have the internal infrastructure to interpret blockchain data in a way that fits inside their existing risk and compliance frameworks,” Eyal Daskal, CEO of Crymbo — a blockchain infrastructure platform for establishments — advised Cointelegraph.
He described the state of affairs as one the place banks typically default to precautionary measures as a result of they lack the power to hyperlink onchain exercise with the identification and compliance indicators they depend on:
“If crypto is involved, they block the account and treat it as out of scope. It’s the simplest option for them because they don’t have the tools to assess it properly.”
Crypto is getting into the monetary mainstream, however for a lot of customers, entry to fundamental banking nonetheless will depend on whether or not a financial institution’s danger engine can perceive what occurs onchain. Till that hole closes, the business’s institutional embrace and retail friction could proceed to coexist.
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