NatWest, a leading retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom, has introduced new restrictions on payments to cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to protect its customers from potential losses.
The move comes as Bitcoin continues to surge amid ongoing uncertainty in the financial markets. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on March 14, NatWest has set a daily limit of GBP 1,000 (USD 1,216) for transactions involving cryptocurrency exchanges. The bank has also imposed a 30-day payment limit of GBP 5,000 (USD 6,080) for such transactions. These limits are intended to help protect customers from losing “life-changing sums of money” due to the risky nature of crypto investments and the prevalence of scams in the industry, according to Stuart Skinner, NatWest’s head of fraud protection.
Skinner emphasized the importance of self-custody in crypto, urging investors to have sole control of their cryptocurrency wallet and cautioning against delegating storage of assets to a third party. NatWest’s announcement also outlined several steps that customers can take to avoid falling victim to crypto scams, such as never sharing private keys with others, reading information at a slow pace, and being wary of giveaways.
NatWest is known for its previous move to cut all credit and debit card payments to Binance crypto exchange in 2021 due to a high level of crypto investment scams. The bank has warned that men over 35 are particularly at risk due to their willingness to take risks on investments.
As Bitcoin surges above USD 26,000 amid ongoing uncertainty in the financial markets, NatWest’s move to introduce new restrictions on payments to cryptocurrency exchanges is likely to be seen as a prudent step to help protect its customers from potential losses.
