According to Cointelegraph: The UK customers of Chase Bank will no longer be able to conduct cryptocurrency transactions starting from October 16. Chase Bank, a digital banking subsidiary of the investment bank JPMorgan, cited the growing instances of crypto-related scams and fraud as the reason behind this decision.
A spokesperson from the bank conveyed that the customers won't be able to make crypto transactions using their debit cards nor through outgoing bank transfers. If the customers attempt to make a crypto-related transaction, they will receive a declined transaction notification.
The decision was underpinned by data from Action Fraud, the UK's fraud reporting agency, indicating a surge in UK consumer losses to crypto scams by over 40% in the previous year, amounting to over 300 million British pounds ($365 million).
The bank in a statement reassured its commitment towards safeguarding customers' money and considering the escalation in scams targeting UK consumers, they chose to prohibit the purchase of crypto assets on Chase debit cards and transfers from Chase accounts to crypto sites.
Chase Bank informed its customers about this change in policy through emails on September 26, which was followed by several customers reporting the receipt of the notifications about the policy revisions concerning crypto on social media platform X (earlier known as Twitter).
Chase Bank caters to more than 50 million active users worldwide through its 4,600 branches. However, these restrictions will only affect approximately 2% of Chase’s total users worldwide, as Chase UK’s customer base reached 1 million last September, post its inception in 2021.
