UK based Bitcoin-Friendly BanksWhile banks used to be thought of as bitcoin’s main antagonist, they have become more friendly towards the idea in recent years.
Although there are only a few that “accept” bitcoin, there are banks that are linked directly to big bitcoin exchanges—opening up trading desks specifically for bitcoin.
Here’s a list of banks that, in one way or another, have presented themselves to be “bitcoin-friendly”:
BankeraAlthough Bankera may not be a traditional bank to the world’s standards, it’s nevertheless a bank that supports and integrates the use of Bitcoin in their system. Bankera, according to their website, was designed to “be the bridge between the traditional financial world and the blockchain technology.”
In the hopes of being the “one-stop store” for all financial needs, their team has introduced the use of SpectroCoin—a global blockchain wallet that can be used for sending, selling, receiving, and storing a wide array of cryptocurrencies (including BTC, ETH, USDT, XEM, DASH) as well as over 20 different fiat currencies.
Bankera offers interbank foreign exchange rates, debit cards, payment accounts, payment processing, and lending (allowing altcoins as collateral).
As of March 2019, the exchange/bank has over 300k users and has issued more than 50k Bitcoin debit cards.
BarclaysBarclays, a bank that has a close relationship with San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase, is a multinational investment bank and financial services company.
In March of 2018, Coinbase and Barclays struck a deal that would make it easier for UK-based customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Through that deal, Coinbase users would be able to open bank accounts with Barclays and UK-based customers would no longer have to exchange their pounds into Euros to buy bitcoin.
MonaizeJust like Bankera, Monaize is a fully digital e-banking platform. It’s catered to freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small enterprises in France and the UK, supplying facilities of business that have been previously denied to those who invest in cryptocurrency. In doing so, freelancers are provided immediate access to their account.
The Monaize token, a token that will play an important role in the service and technology integration of the platform, will be issued via the Komodo Platform.
Virgin MoneyDespite Virgin Money not allowing its customers to buy cryptocurrency with credit cards, the financial services brand isn’t opposed to the whole idea.
They still allow the purchase of cryptocurrency with their debit cards.
The idea of not allowing customers to buy cryptocurrency with credit cards is their way of saying that they aren’t going to lend any customers money for them to buy cryptocurrency.
Making the leapIn most cases, the reason why banks go against cryptocurrencies is because of the fear that that crypto would be used by criminals to launder money. Despite that, there are banks that still believe in the true power of cryptocurrency and the amount of financial good it can contribute to society. These UK-based banks also aren’t the only ones starting to get on the trend—a major bank in Manila, Philippines is also taking that leap and creating their own coin, Stablecoin PHX.
https://snbchf.com/2019/08/paxful-bitcoin-friendly-banks/