Topic: Has your bank or credit card told you they will stop you buying crypto? (Read 1359 times)

When carrying out P2P trades, if the sender of the fiat unknowingly adds the word "crypto" or anything crypto related in the description as shown above, the financial institutions have put in place surveillance system that can detect such transactions.


We're still performing transactions via P2P on CEXs but with experienced traders who would not be dumb enough to make such silly mistake.

How will they determine whether the transaction is related to "crypto"? In particular, if it is P2P. Transactions "from" and "to" people who rarely change crypto can't be identified as involved in "crypto", because it look like ordinary transactions between bank clients.

In the case of exchangers and cryptocurrency individual changers, suspicions may arise, because many transactions occur "to" and "from" their cards. It seems to me that the actions of financial organizations in this regard are aimed at combating precisely such (exchangers) bank clients. They will begin to infringe on ordinary crypto users later.

Then how do you implement? Exchange for cash in person? Do you think this is safer?

What idiot did this? To avoid attracting attention, you should not add anything at all to the description.

Just yesterday, the CBN of my country issued a notification to all fintech companies, mandating them to flag and report to the authorities, all transactions that are crypto related. This is the second time something like this is happening, and from the first one, I've decided never to use my cards to facilitate any crypto transactions in other to be on the safe side. Another way to stay undetected is to avoid adding the word crypto as description on your banking transaction.

FWIW: I bank with TD Bank (in the USA - not Canada) - and I've got to say.... they are the easiest bank I've, personally, dealt with. I had a similar experience with both Chase Bank AND Bank of America - so I politely requested my account be closed at both institutions and I took my business elsewhere (in this case - Toronto Dominion Bank of North America).

If your bank is employing those sorts of practices - I'd just move elsewhere. I'm sure there is a bank in your area (can also look into Credit Unions) that will not hinder your ability to buy Bitcoin!


Best of luck with whatever course of action you choose.

Cheers!

-CochNocher

In my country, banks would even turn your account to dormant mode if they suspect any of the incoming or outgoing transactions to be connected to or related to cryptocurrencies, they would even confiscate your funds if there are any and ask you for proof for them to release the funds and open your account, and the proofs that you submit should also not indicate or show anything related to cryptocurrencies because if it does, they will be sure that they were right and you are involved and then your account won't be unblocked.

So if you have a bank account here and you don't want to face any problems, you should avoiding mentioning anything about cryptocurrencies in front of bank officials or anywhere in your mobile banking app, online banking, or when you are visiting a branch for any reason.

According to my experience banks in EU usualy don't ban buying of crypto currencies including Bitcoin but most of them see such transactions as a potential risk and because of that you might not have a good credit score and bank could deny to you some of their services like loans or bigger limit on credit card.
I know that my banks tags crypto transactions as well those on gambling sites as a big risk and doesn't like such clients.

Ponzi schemes don't use Bitcoin alone as a means of payment. In fact, one of the most popular is perfect money. These banks make Bitcoin the sacrificial lamb because they just hate it. I don't remember when banks started caring about what you invest your money in until Bitcoin came around.

Anyone who borrows money or a loan to invest in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency will have broken one of the major rules of investing in crypto, which is "Not investing what one can afford to lose"

I want to agree with them, because there are loads of Ponzi schemes out there, where they use bitcoin as a payment option.

In any way, it is always a bad idea to buy bitcoin with debt. I would have been angry if they blocked my savings account, when I transfer my own money to a Crypto exchange, but not money that the Bank are borrowing to me.

There was a time when the Bitcoin price crashed and took 3 years to recover... imagine paying off the credit card for something that will only break even in 3 years.  

Based in Canada. Many if the big name bank branches here have locked out crypto purchases and state that their risk tolerance doesn't allow any purchasing of crypto currencies. The only way around it is finding exchanges that allow electronic fund transfers by the form of "Etransfers". Has been a huge pain for me to try to work around large crypto purchases.

You are right here. if people trust those financial companies with their money then they must follow their rules too. they should be mentally prepared to follow their rules or loose their money.
that is another reason why I think everyone should have full control over their money. which is possible with either keeping your cash at home. or getting into bitcoin. with bitcoin you have full control over your money. you are your won bank. no one can say how you can spend your money. what you can buy and what not. and there is no risk of your money getting freezed.

In our country every bank and all types of cards prohibit investing in foreign currency and not only our country but many countries may have prohibited investing in currencies with any type of debit or credit card. And those who want to invest have their cards blocked and funds held so they can't make transactions. And in this case the banks do a lot of harassment because they don't know about it properly so they do a lot of harassment to the common customers who want to invest in crypto currency.

Surely they want their customers back, and try hard to persuade them to cooperate again, that's the marketing they run but the customers are smarter and decide to ignore it because I also feel that there are many other possible alternatives for me to live according to my wishes, but if there is still a lot of money in the blocked account I will be forced to open it by any means.

I think they have the right to set those limits because that is within their control. They have the right thing by warning you before they actually took action, because you have violated their terms. As long as you use their services, you still have to comply even it's your money, or you get outfrom there.

I think you should immediately stop your activities there. Immediately take your assets and look for another bank that does not intimidate crypto world.

One more thing, I think using a credit card for crypto activities is not a good idea. Of course you have to pay them a bank interest and additional fees and I don't think it's cheap.

Sometime back, my bank blocked my account for engaging in "crypto p2p trading" and wanted to visit their branch for reverification and to unblock the account. Turns out the counterparty I was trading with could have been flagged off, and any transaction to any other account got flagged off as well. That was the last time I used the account to this date 

They thought I needed them so much, well it turns out I had so many other alternatives. They have been sending me messages to reactivate the account and all that shit, but I don't care.

Just make sure to shave off 30% of all your gains on interest fees alone! Crypto should always be purchased with cash you have already on hand, otherwise it cancels out almost unless it just goes through the roof. The time it'll take to go through the roof might not be worth it depending on the amount that you are purchasing.

A bank denying your transaction to purchase crypto is exactly why BTC was invented: to allow you to transact freely.

I have not bought bitcoins directly from my bank account. Currently I use Binance Exchange p2p. I order directly from the buyer and send money from my bank to his bank and confirm it from Binance. The seller checks his bank account and gives me bitcoin. I think the bank authorities here don't understand whether we are buying bitcoins with this money or something else. As the bank transaction is completely a normal process.

Though its been almost a year since this post was made, could have looked away but cant help but say something here, I have 4 debit cards from 4 different bank here in my country, I cant help but agree totally to the quoted statement above.
It was sometime last year 2021 that the central bank of Nigeria banned both banks and citizens of the country from buying or selling crypto currencies,  banks were directed by central bank to freeze all and any account suspected to be involved in crypto currency, unfortunately for the banks and fortunately for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, the announcement of this ban marked the beginning of a new era of cryptocurrencies in the country, millions of youth became for involved in crypto currencies that the banks had no choice but to just keep processing payments, not minding whether its a crypto related payment or not.

Just like the op said, any bank or credit/debit card company that still banned crypto related transactions by now are doing nothing but driving nails into their own coffins, they are gonna fade out even before they know it.

Too many to count, but what seems to be working now is using the Nexo platform if you desire to purchase crypto with credit, feel free to give it a try even though your mileage could vary- not sure if having a credit card issued through a credit union helped or not.  Works for me but in no way am I shilling for them; if so, I would post my referral link to get something out of it.  Hopefully this helps and proves to be helpful for someone who want to use a credit card to purchase crypto.

Good to know that your local bankers are not strict for this kind of transaction because us have certain restrictions towards dealing with cryptocurrency since somehow government take extra precautions about it since they didn't support this industry yet. But maybe in future maybe we can lessen up the restriction and can able to buy as many bitcoins as we want by using our balance in our accounts.

I have not come across any such news on my inbox or via any communication. I bought some coins with my local fiats transferred to a crypto exchange. I dont think, the bank will take it as a serious note to look at ban transaction to buy crypto coins. The govt is directly or indirectly fully supporting crypto currencies' transactions and moments. We have huge numbers of bitcoin and other crypt users from my country. So, I dont think, banks or govts will stop or initiate such transactions.

Nope. I've been buying/selling since 2015 and have never received such message from my bank

I have been buying and selling cryptocurrencies for three years but I have never had a problem and I believe the future of crypto is very clear and maybe later a lot of people will use crypto to make transactions for buying and selling goods and services

Absolutely not. I have been purchasing crypto for almost five years now and have never had any problems with them, and they treat my transactions like any other online purchase

I think it's down to the government policies in your country. Many governments are now doing their best to restrict the trade of cryptocurrency in their countries. In my country for instance, any cryptocurrency activity that leads to your bank account will get your funds frozen forever. As little as a transaction description (crypto-related comments) on day-to-day credit and debit will put you in the blackbook.

Hey, You can try p2p buy from cryptocurrency when possible your support crypto. I mean it's not good decision for scam crypto because world biggest rich man buy crypto.

In my country, they'd banned it, what exactly they did was, our government gave all bank directives to ban any individual transacting crypto, meaning that, where any individual that put any crypto related words in the narration, such account, both the recipient and sender will be permanently blocked.

Solution for us just to transact with mentioning any crypto related words in the narration

Not surprising at all to hear this experiences since many bank really don't want to get involve on any crypto transactions. I don't know what's the reason about this but I think same as you if I experience the same I will cut off that and move to another.

And good thing we have Western Union which is crypto friendly bank and for now we can transact by using it without intervention so far happening on my account. But let just see how if these continue and they will not follow other bank to do the same with them.

I had this same problem start about a year and a half ago.  I canceled that credit card and closed my accounts with that bank only to have the next bank refuse to process any crypto purchases through their credit card.  Thankfully in Canada we can fund our exchanges through an email transfer.  This is currently the only way other than wire transfer that I am able to purchase crypto.   

My bank doesn't say anything about crypto and still allows many of us to buy crypto. But because I don't use a credit card to buy crypto, I don't know if the bank has forbidden its users to buy bitcoin from their credit card. If the credit card forbids it, its users can use another way, namely by making direct transactions using ATMs to some local sellers who can help you buy bitcoin or other coins. Maybe you need to find another way that doesn't use your credit card, so the bank for the credit card doesn't know anything about your transactions.

I thought I was the only one who was warned by my credit card salesman not to buy crypto with a credit card, because he forbade me so I also closed the credit card that I have been using for a long time. looks like they (banks and credit card providers) are fighting cryptocurrency adoption.

Yes! Not directly but started getting all my transactions denied.

Had to switch bank lol 




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Not specifically with me. But I know of banks that are particularly annoying with the process of depositing to exchanges - those that come from exchange are less annoying - and some blocks in that sense. But with other financial services I've already had a strange feeling and a less 'acceptance' on the part of service providers for accounting processes for tax purposes and etc.

Actually yes some banks prohibit their users to do some transactions on cryptocurrency, I don't know why they implement this but I think they are just backing off on some illegal activities happening on cryptocurrency and also maybe they didn't go into this since government doesn't have any clear stand towards its legality that's why there are banks doing this actions.

Here some banks doesn't allow us to buy bitcoin but in Western Union they allow us to do this and they are a crypto friendly bank.

Do banks prohibit such transactions? I think such a scenario can only be in countries where cryptocurrencies are banned at the government level.

I feel sad for banks which adopt this kind of approach towards crypto. In what times are they still living? It's 2022 already, and those who don't adopt crypro or create obstacles to difficult the adoption by others are going to stay behind, without any doubts.

I've never experienced this, but I'm sure you will be able to find a crypto bank or app which features credit card for customers. There are so many of them right now, including some with cashback option, which is great for making purchases daily and receiving a small percentage of the money back. I'm sure you will be able to find something if you search for it carefully.

Do you have any limits on the card? For the fact itself is rather strange, I have not seen this.

I am very sorry to say that my country has not been able to accept bitcoin even after so many years but indirectly the people of my country use bitcoin. However, the central bank and its subsidiary banks have not been able to accept Bitcoin.

Crypto is not a competitor, the bank also serves local fiat transactions which customers prefer to avoid high crypto tx fees. Based on today's reality, are any crypto users actually leaving the bank entirely? No, the bank will not lose its customers.
Banks also don't care about crypto taxes. If they are going to be able to profit from customer transactions, they will embrace crypto for as long as regulation allows.

They don't see it as competitor right now they just following what government implement to them and they maybe complying with the law. If crypto will just be legal on many parts of the country for sure banks will adopt it also since for sure they go with those industry which can create huge profit to them. And maybe some institution will create a crypto banks to adopt and earn some benefits with it.

Currently in my country the central bank of Nigeria have asked all banks to block any account that's linked to cryptocurrency which is very bad, I don't think anybody should tell me what I should do with my money and the funniest part is that they believe cryptocurrency is used for different illegal al activities, but I believe any illegal activities don by cryptocurrency can also be done making use of fiat currency so I don't think there is any concrete reason why they should ban cryptocurrency.

Haven't seen any of such things in my country. It depends upon in which country do you live and what are their rules and regulations.
Also as for the bank, I would suggest you to quit this credit card service and apply for any other service.
Also, try to search for any related regulatory order which allows the banks to block the credit card for such purchases.
If there isn't any such order is found then serve a legal notice to your bank, and sue them in the court of law.

my credit card provider not yet give any issue for cryptocurency purchase, however i never use it.
i only use cash for any cryptocurency purchase, since credit card and internet cyber crime increasingly worst.
Honestly I'm interested in cryptocurency purchase for short investment using a credit card

Good for you. I'm loyal to my bank and in fact I've got many accounts on them for different purposes. But lately, they just disabled and no longer support deposits to crypto related services even they're not exchanges, they would just decline upon knowing that it's crypto related. That's why I can no longer deposit to exchanges in fiat with my bank. But when I withdraw from exchanges to my bank account, they're just ignoring it. Sounds crazy but that's how they act if it's about deposits.

Yes, they can do that! This reminded me of my beginnings in crypto, "be your own bank", "own your money"! This is just one of the examples of why crypto can make a better world, where people can be free and equal in many ways! Well, I support you in your decision to cancel that credit card, every person should have a right to choose what to do with their own money!

Luckily I didn't have similar problems! I was buying/selling locally, I never used any banks for that, cash rulez sometimes! So they can bait me! I don't like banks, and I have a very bad opinion about banks, but I still use them, my salary goes through them, I am waiting for that day to delete them completely from my life!

A few banks in my countries also did that, stopping any process of buying crypto with exchange accounts. I don't know why they know and blacklist exchange account, even send a reminder to me read 'crypto buying or selling is prohibited by law and this process is stopped'. Because of that, people can only buy or sell crypto thru the p2p system which is very slow, very dependent on the other side and carry a risk as well.

They can do that and retrict you for doing such transactions and actually on some bank on my country restrict us to do so, that's why we cannot do anything but to follow and I find different alternatives just to buy bitcoin for use. And if one time your country will also do that just follow so that you will not encounter any problem which prohibit their laws.

I dont think that banks can do such things, and actually they cannot to control that processes. I f you want to get the most profitable credit card, you should probably check this Rate My Rewards resource, and compare different credit cards, to get the most relevant to your personal life conditions.

There are already banks in my country that had already prohibited on engaging with transactions with crypto and this is why it do really sucks when you intently to buy up some coins if you do see some opportunity
and you dont have much money left but rather your option is your credit card.

Its no surprising though since these institutions are heavily regulated and centralized and anything that do connects or get involved with crypto will have significantly making out some issues later on

but will vary on whats the current take of government of the said country but sooner or later they would really be still having the same view.

Maybe in some point they will think about crypto will be their competitor but actually for the current happening they will not think about that since the money people earned from crypto will still go to them since people needs bank to stored their profit which they exchange to fiat so this is win for them knowing how big the transactions possible created by their costumers, but unfortunately since crypto is not regulated the government will think about that this is illegal maybe they read bad stories about scamming that's why they think that way. So if they regulate it and start with the bank then they cannot do anything but to follow what government told to them and implement it to their clients.

Banks can't say you can't buy cryptocurrencies with their card, but they can just terminate your account agreement and just close it. One of the reasons is what you wrote, which is no regulation, but in my opinion banks do it for another very simple reason. They just know that cryptocurrencies are their direct competition. At the moment, their actions are sporadic as the cryptocurrency market is still relatively small. However, I am sure that with the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, the intensity of repression by banks will also increase.

The banks are not telling us that they will stop the use of credit card for crypto buying but they are not allowing too. Still, banks are waiting rules and regulations by the respective governments. Hope they will allow soon.

The ban and restrictions on purchasing/using bitcoin in most countries is becoming harder on a daily basis. With your own experience at OP, it is more like an advice because there are so many cryptocurrency scams that they will not allow me to use the card to buy bitcoin or other crypto. Other countries does not want to see any form of transaction containing bitcoin or crypto currency, if it be found, that bank account will be blocked, same thing to the ATM card attached to the account, and if there be any money in that account, it cannot be withdrawn. This is because the government has strong ruling power against the use of crypto currency within the country, and the bank has no power to go against the governmental rules, but to obey them.
Most government finds crypto currency disturbing, but the banks finds it an interesting way of making more money.

No . I have been buying and selling cryptos since last 5 years and never my bank or credit card gave me any message like that they will stop my crypto transactions. Yes there always had been some rumours that it will happen but in reality i never had any problem in buying and selling cryptos.

This is normal. Now my bank card has received similar notifications. If you accidentally receive black money during the purchase, it is very likely that your account will be frozen.
The way to avoid this situation is to find a more familiar merchant for transactions.

Even if they like to do business with cryptocurrency but if the government have strong ruling regarding on its usage and put some law to ban cryptocurrency or warned them about doing so then your bank cannot do anything but to follow what government dictate them so maybe find another ways to buy bitcoin since there are so many methods to do it without any hassle. I also stop using bank cards upon buying bitcoins to avoid any issues in future since government had hot eyes on crypto recently.

You must agree to the bank's terms of use before you deposit with it, and part of it is related to freezing your money in banks and bank accounts.
Some banks do not like cryptocurrencies because it is an escape of money from the bank to an unknown third party that is not subject to their authority, and therefore the number of money they can control will decrease.

You have many ways to buy bitcoin that may not require direct deposit to your account.

Since a few people here have recommended to buy bitcoins peer to peer, I wanted to bring up some needed caution!
If you send money from your bank account to another persons bank account and they have anything to do with money laundering, the police might knock on your door some day at 5am in the morning and search your house

There have been multiple cases of that happening of which I have read on the german board or just people getting charged and interrogated because they have transacted money with people that are known for money laundering.

That's why I personally think that going through an exchange is probably the safest way if you ware willing to do kyc or find an exchange that does not require kyc.

And it's not!
You decide where you put your money, in that bank or in another or in your pocket or you spend them on booze and hookers.

The thing here is that you're using a service, just because you have a bank account it doesn't mean you can use it for anything, you can't force them to send money to Afghanistan just how you can't force somebody to accept your credit card as a payment method if they don't like it. It's still is your money that you can take it out and cancel their service as the OP does but that doesn't give you any special rights, just like when booking a room this doesn't mean you're free to smoke in there.

It's a simple math game, how many clients they will lose just for that? Are people going to completely forfeit all the advantages that made them chose that bank in the first place for a few crypto transactions a month or are they just going to keep this account and open another for crypto at a different bank? I would put my money on the second.


You might end up with more trouble with that one too if you're making a lot of transactions a month.
Banks have been flagging accounts that make a lot of transfers to random people over the country and I've heard of enough cases when they completely disabled the account, not just limited it from purchases like the OP experienced.
Just think what's fishier from their perspective!

Yeah, its your money but you are using their service and knowing banks are heavily regulated or centralized then they can do all sorts of things that they do like and theres no such thing you can do but to deal with it.

So far i havent experienced any blocks or close accounts with my credit or debit cards as of this moment but i had received some verifications due to some funds do came from binance or simply they are aware
that im dealing with crypto.

They do need that verification and i do tell the truth on where it did came from and after that i didnt recieve any similar calls or verifications for that matter but i wont be surprised that possible
problems is already ahead.

-

I understand your rant, myself has a bad experience way back in 2017-2018 when I was about to open a bank account and I said that majority of my funds will be coming from crypto and they denied my application.

Anyhow, if I'm not mistaken I only did once try to used my credit card to buy crypto but I didn't take any notice on the bank. Maybe they didn't look hard enough. But I never try to do it again because of the bad feedback that I read. However, banks shouldn't close their door, I'm seeing that down the line they will allow crypto buying their their cards.

Look for other options to buy crypto as well, maybe that can work out with you.

I think exchanging with individuals and not companies is the best option so far.
Use P2P also for security. One cannot really conclude what the banks think about crypto currency.
Just don't make them a direct link for your exchange.

The only way banks will ever do this is if you use them to directly link to exchanges,,, so even if they start to do this, all you need to do is go to P2P then you are transacting with individuals and not companies.

I think in the end this is good because P2P is how crypto is meant to be  

The creditcard service provider has their own right to change the terms and conditions at any time so if they say you can't buy bitcoin with your credit card then you aare not supposed to do that and its not your money its the credit money given to you by the banks. And buying bitcoin with credit cards is not a wise choice as well because the fee is insane when we buy through credit card on most of the exchanges.

I don't use my banks for crypto purchases but I've seen some people in my country that are also having the same problem with their banks. They don't want to support crypto purchases and gives a warning to the owners that they'll stop supporting the same transactions. This happens mostly in the US and other countries too as far as I know as long as the bank isn't crypto friendly. But don't lose hope, there may be some other local banks that doesn't care about crypto purchases using them.

Personally, I'm trying not to use my main bank account for crypto activities. I haven't faced any issues so far, but other people had bad experience like locking funds, closing accounts, asking for too many details. Banks have negative attitude towards crypto. It would be something surprising if they wouldn't try to make us issues to use crypto.
Personally, when I'm dealing with crypto, I stay away from banks and try to find alternative services.

This is deem to happen sooner or later, I am glad its happening in the start. Crypto is a revolt against centralized institutes likes banks, insurance companies who for decades are abusing end customers. banks also jumped in the crypto mart with centralized cryptos like XRP but they fail to make a major impact.

Paxful and Localbitcoin are not decentralized. They are P2P for sure but when you deposit bitcoin (or even when you buy, and the seller releases, it's all going to their wallets AFAIK so you still end up trusting a 3rd party centralized wallet/service.

Bisq and hodl hodl are better as they both use non custodial wallets.

As long as your money is in their custody, they do dictate the rules. Of course, there's always another bank you can move to (which you probably have to do now), but careful, most banks think this way.
Best is to see which banks are friendly/friendlier with crypto businesses and use those for crypto, and maybe keep a completely different account at a completely different bank for normal use.



I've read about cases here and there, I guess that there aren't few...



People forget easily. Just look at the politicians, they simply rely on the fact that people forget in 4-5 years all their crap and elect them again.
And few unhappy customers here and there doesn't matter that much for them, unfortunately. Keep in mind that for many of those muggles from banks crypto means drug money.

Since the start, we know that the Banking institution always fighting in a war of fraud and different cybercriminals that most commonly use are cryptocurrencies.  But this is a case-to-case basis and depends if where you live because each country's governments had their own perspective view about cryptocurrency, some of them become legal tender while others become neutral.

There are too many options upon buying cryptocurrencies if your banks are against it and if you want not to link your credit card as a crypto buyer.  You can use P2P exchanges which totally safe and there's no trace if you buy Bitcoin.  It's a decentralized platform that gives security to both individual transactions.

Like,

• Bisq
• Hodl-hodl
• Paxful
• LocalBitcoin

Banks in many countries are fighting quite hard with cryptocurrency users. Often, the order to close the accounts of companies related to the cryptocurrency market is issued by the financial supervisory authorities in a given country. The bank simply has to close the accounts of people who trade cryptocurrencies and it looks like they are doing it with pleasure. After all, it is, kind of a fight against the competition.

I am incandescent with rage. A stupid credit card that I will now cancel put a notice in my account that they have decided that because there are so many cryptocurrency scams that they will not allow me to use the card to buy bitcoin or other crypto.
I joined the forum and found the thread where there were dozens of credit card holders that basically said the same thing. HOW DARE you decide what I can do with my money?!!!
How many other people have experienced this bullshit?
IMHO they are just driving nails into their own coffins.
The HUBRIS.