JP Morgan British retail bank, Chase will impose a ban on all cryptocurrency transactions made by customers starting from October 16 due to an increase in fraud and scams.
The company revealed this on Tuesday according to a spokesperson saying the bank was “committed to helping keep our customers’ money safe and secure”.
According to Reuters, the bank said, “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.”
Several other United Kingdom banks have placed restrictions on crypto-related transactions, but this move is one of the first outright bans on the asset.
According to data from Britain’s fraud reporting agency Action Fraud, there has been a 40% increase in consumer losses to crypto fraud in the past year, surpassing the £300m for the first time.
JP Morgan has generated more than 1.6 million customers to its Chase retail bank since launching the mobile app-based service in Britain two years ago, and plans to roll out the consumer bank in other international markets over time.
Reuters said in March, NatWest (NWG.L) imposed new limits on the daily and monthly amount customers can send to crypto exchanges, seeking to protect consumers from “crypto-criminals.”
Spain’s Santander said last year it would block UK customers from sending real-time payments to crypto exchanges as part of measures to protect customers from scams.
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