A U.K. bank will reportedly bar over 5 million clients from accessing digital currencies. TSB Bank is concerned about the increase in scammers allowed to set up their e-wallets on digital currency platforms. In particular, the bank called out Binance and Kraken, which it says have not done enough to protect users against being defrauded.
A report by The Times revealed that TSB is planning on implementing the digital currency ban in the near future. In its report, in which it cited sources with knowledge on the matter, the paper claimed that TSB has continued to receive complaints from its customers about fraud related to digital currency platforms.
With the decision, TSB Bank is set to bar over 5.4 million clients from sending their funds directly to digital currency trading platforms.
The bank singled out Binance as one of the platforms that it’s concerned with the most. According to TSB, the Changpeng Zhao-led exchange has failed in its duty to protect its customers.
TSB gave an example that in a one-month period between March 15 and April 15 this year, the bank received 849 reports from their customers that they had lost money to scammers in Binance. It attempted to contact the exchange to resolve the issues, but Binance reportedly refused to cooperate.
Binance denied the claims, saying it never received any communication from the bank. A representative for the exchange stated, “Binance is very serious about its responsibility to protect users from scams. When we are made aware of these claims, we immediately take action and have an excellent record of working with law enforcement agencies.”
TSB also named Kraken as another platform it has serious issues with. The U.S. exchange also denied the claims. Steven Christie, the exchange’s global head of compliance stated, “We categorically deny the allegation that Kraken does not respond to calls for assistance on incidents of fraud. Kraken responded to well over 1,000 different requests from law enforcement agencies in 2020 alone. Kraken operates in full compliance with law enforcement agencies.”
Binance is no stranger to run-ins with the law, particularly in the United Kingdom. The exchange is under investigation by the U.K. market watchdog for issuing unregistered tokens for its Coinbase and Tesla tokens. These tokens have also attracted the scrutiny of BaFin, the German market regulator, which believes that they constitute a breach of German securities laws. In the U.S., Binance is being investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), IRS and the Department of Justice on suspicion of money laundering and tax offenses.
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