As concerns about investment fraud and scams in crypto rise, Britain’s NatWest Group has restricted the daily amount of payments for clients trading on cryptocurrency exchanges, including prominent platform Binance.

Why Did NatWest Restricts Payments To Binance?

According to the spokesperson, the interim cap, issued on June 24 by one of the UK’s largest domestic lenders, affected several exchanges and digital asset businesses. 

Per the new guidelines, the maximum sum varies by platform and is often in the hundreds of pounds.

“We have witnessed a significant amount of Bitcoin investment frauds targeting our clients across retail and commercial banking, notably via social media sites,” added the spokesperson.

“To protect our customers from criminals using these platforms, we are temporarily lowering the maximum daily amount a customer can send to cryptocurrency exchanges and blocking payments to a few cryptocurrency asset firms where we have seen significant levels of fraud-related harm for our customers.”

A spokesman for Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, stated that the company takes its duty to safeguard consumers against attempted scams and frauds seriously.

“When we are aware of these types of accusations, we promptly take action, and we have an outstanding track record of collaborating with law enforcement authorities throughout the world to assist in their investigations,” he added.

Why Is Binance’s Security Questioned?

Binance is being scrutinized more closely by regulators across the world. Last Monday, the UK’s financial authority stated that the platform cannot undertake any regulated activity and issued a consumer warning about it.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) did not provide a rationale for its decision but informed that Binance withdrew its application to register as a crypto-related firm with it in mid-May.

Since January, crypto-related businesses have been required to register with the FCA, which monitors compliance with rules aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorism funding.

Following the FCA’s decision, a NatWest spokesman stated that the company will investigate Binance’s inclusion on the list of crypto businesses affected.

Binance provides a variety of services ranging from digital token trading to derivatives, as well as new technology, such as tokenized stock exchanges.