Coinbase UK has a new banking partner that will allow it to resume near-real-time payments for customers.
According to Bloomberg, Coinbase UK, which lost its banking relationship with Barclays back in July, is now a client of ClearBank.
ClearBank supports four payment schemes including “Faster Payments”. As a Faster Payment Participant Bank, ClearBank allows payments to accounts at other participant banks to be made in seconds. The transaction limit is £250,000 for individuals.
It is very difficult for crypto businesses to get an account at most banks due to their regulatory concerns and associated compliance costs.
The CEO of Coinbase UK, Zeeshan Feroz, confirmed to Bloomberg that there was indeed a new banking relationship, but did not name the bank. He said:
It’s a very nascent industry that is broadly unregulated so the challenge a traditional bank has is crypto doesn’t fit into one of its existing models for other industries. Understanding the crypto space and how you manage the risk requires a significant amount of investment and resources. As we look at the long term, that gap between crypto and traditional banks will be bridged.