JPMorgan’s digital retail bank in the UK, Chase, has revealed its decision to ban crypto transactions made by customers from 16th October, stating an increase in crypto fraud and scams as the reasons for the restriction.
The US-owned digital bank informed its customers of the upcoming restriction on Tuesday 26 September. Since the mobile app-based service was launched in England in 2021, it has attracted more than 1.6 million customers. Parent company, JPMorgan, has already planned to roll out the consumer bank in other international markets over time.
A spokesperson from the bank, who commented on the issue stated that “we’ve seen an increase in the number of crypto scams targeting UK consumers, so we have taken the decision to prevent the purchase of crypto assets on a Chase debit card or by transferring money to a crypto site from a Chase account.”
Chase has become the latest lender in the UK to restrict customers’ access to crypto amid long-running concerns over its use in online scams run by criminals. In March, the National Westminster Bank (NatWest) imposed restrictions on the daily and monthly number of crypto transfers customers could make, citing that it was protecting them from crypto criminals.