Santander said in an emailed statement on Friday that it will prohibit UK clients from transferring real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges beginning next year as part of steps to safeguard customers from fraudsters.

## When will the block begin?

The bank will implement a plan meaning all payments made to cryptocurrency exchanges via telephone banking and in-branch payments will be blocked, as well as internet and mobile banking, at an unspecified point in 2023.

The bank will follow in the footsteps of other UK retail banks in restricting client transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges. For transfers to crypto exchanges via mobile and online banking, its users will face restrictions of 1,000 pounds ($1,123) per transaction and 3,000 pounds overall in any rolling 30-day period. Last year, the [Natwest Group](https://www.reuters.com/technology/natwest-caps-transfers-crypto-exchanges-including-binance-over-fraud-concerns-2021-06-29/) in the United Kingdom set a daily limit for consumers to transmit to bitcoin exchanges. 

Customers will still be able to receive crypto [exchange](/news/article/best-exchanges-for-crypto-uk) payments into their accounts. [According to a note](https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/fraud-and-security/cryptocurrency) on the bank's website, there has been a significant increase in the number of UK clients who have become victims of cryptocurrency fraud in recent months. Global regulators have warned of the risks of scams and fraud in the primarily unregulated realm of cryptocurrency trading.

A spokeswoman for Santander stated that securing our clients from cryptocurrency fraud is a primary concern. "We want to further safeguard clients by barring all faster payments we find from Santander accounts to cryptocurrency exchanges - this will come into play in 2023".

## Faster Payments in the UK that Santander News refers to

Faster Payments is the infrastructure that enables real-time bank transactions for most UK bank accounts. Pay UK, which owns the respective company, stated in an email that it is working with authorities and the [payments](/news/article/russia-approves-cross-border-crypto) sector to create and implement more robust protection for fraud victims. 

Santander said it would continue to prohibit all payments to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, a policy implemented in July 2021 in response to a warning from the UK's financial authority regarding the exchange. Binance did not reply immediately to a request for comment.




Santander UK news - Crypto transfers blocked

[Santander](https://www.santanderbank.com/) is one of the largest networks of banks in the world, with its headquarters in Spain. In August, it announced that it would be launching the [Santander cryptocurrency trading](/news/article/santander-crypto) feature in Brazil. Now, the firm has proposed using the Brazilian CBDC (central bank digital currency), Digital Real, to tokenise assets. 

The firm intends to facilitate trading real estate properties and cars for crypto users in Brazil. For this reason, it will be working with the [FinTech ParFin](https://parfin.io/en/), which can assist in tokenising ownership rights and controlling the exchange of assets or currencies. 

## Santander cryptocurrency trading project for LIFT Challenge

The proposal for the tokenisation of real estate properties and vehicles through CBDCs is for the LIFT Challenge program. The Central Bank of Brazil initiated the program to promote the use of CBDC, Digital Real, in the country. The coin could be launched in 2024.

Along with Santander, several other institutions became part of it, including the [Mercado Bitcoin Exchange](https://www.mercadobitcoin.com.br/), [Itau Unibanco](https://www.itau.com/), and Visa do Brazil. Because of this initiative from the central bank, various use cases of the upcoming digital currency came forward.   

## Digitising real-world assets

The banking institution is looking to build an infrastructure that can digitise real-world assets. It will provide a complete platform to the users where they can easily buy or sell properties, vehicles, or other assets via virtual currency. 

According to a local news agency, the bank's Executive Superintendent of Open Finance, Jayme Chataque, [said](https://livecoins.com.br/santander-projeto-real-digital-ompras-de-carros-e-casas/) that the tokenisation would allow the users to leverage [smart contract](/news/article/smart-contracts-blockchain) and blockchain technology for making deals for their houses, cars, or other assets. 

Meanwhile, the CTO of ParFin, Alex Buelau, stated that the firm has built a permissioned blockchain, ParChain, which will be used for digitisation for this project. Also, he mentioned that the blockchain could provide enhanced security through Multi-Party Computation technology.



Santander Cryptocurrency Services Expand

Santander are set to launch a crypto trading feature in Brazil. The multinational banking institutions has made plans to offer [digital asset trading services](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/28/santander-brazil-to-launch-crypto-trading-feature-in-coming-months-ceo-says/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=feedly&utm_campaign=headlines) to its customers in Brazil, according to, Mario Leao, the Chief Executive of Santander Brazil on Thursday, July 28, 2022. 

The newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo reported that Santander's crypto service isdue to be rolled out  in mid-October when the institution releases its earnings report. 

## Why is Santander launching a crypto trading feature? 

Despite regulatory hurdles and the current [bearish market trends](https://news.monitalks.io/news/article/cryptocurrency-crash), some of the services that have been revolutionised by  decentralized finance  will gradually be adopted in traditional finance, says Leao. He believes that digital currencies are here to stay and the bank has made the decision to support a trading feature not out of competition with other financial powerhouses but because clients of the bank demand this alternative asset class. Education is the key to cryptocurrencies future, he added. 

This is not the first time the Santander has made inroads with crypto in South America. The bank allied with an agricultural commodities tokenization platform called Agrotoken, to provide loans for farmers in Argentina. 

In December 2021, the largest e-commerce firmsin Latin America, Mercado Libre introduced a feature that allows customers to buy, hold, and sell digital currencies in Brazil.
 
In July, PicPay, a prominent financial technology companies announced they will be launching an exchange and a stablecoin pegged to the national currency of Brazil later this year. 
While Santander is now starting it's crypto offering, other large players such as Nubank’s crypto trading platform, has already seen one million users.  

Overall, this is great news for the emerging sector which has seen its flagship currency Bitcoin questioned by Warren Buffet, and other coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), ZCash (ZEC), and Monero (XMR) being involved in dark web activities. 
  
    
  


    
  



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