UK Crypto White List Needed to Solve 'Debanking,' Lobby Group Says

U.K. banks should be given a “white list” of registered crypto firms to avoid the sector being cut off from the financial system, lobby group CryptoUK said in letters sent to regulators Tuesday.

Concerns over legitimate crypto companies not being able to get access to a bank have spread to the U.K., where major lenders say they discourage access to riskier financial products for their customers’ own good.

“We are calling upon the government to find a path forward,” Su Carpenter, director of operations at CryptoUK, told Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith in a letter dated Tuesday. "Blanket bans and restrictions of transfers from U.K. banks to crypto asset platforms … will have the effect of fundamentally undermining the government’s ambition to become a crypto asset hub," Carpenter added.

A parallel letter calls for action from two other regulatory agencies – the Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator.

In the U.S., January guidance from regulators and the collapse of crypto-focused banks such as Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank have led to lawmaker concerns that the industry is being punished via the financial system, as previously occurred to gun sellers in Operation Choke Point.

Read more: UK Banks Blocking Crypto Access Given Fraud, Volatility, Lawmakers Told