Crypto trading bank account woes

sue_marie

My son enjoys crypto trading, sometimes making around £100 in a day. He is autistic and it’s his only real source of income. However, so far this year he has had one bank account (Monzo) closed permanently with no explanation and another three (Halifax, TSB and Revolut) were frozen then reinstated on condition that he did not use them for any further crypto trading.
It would be terrible if he’s forced out in this way. Do you know of any banks that would welcome him?
He’s trading legally and will declare his income to HMRC.
Many thanks.

agrinnall

Monzo may have placed a CIFAS marker against him which is causing any other bank concerns about providing facilities. He can find out by issuing a DSAR:


https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request


However, it may not be possible to remove it, crypto trading is reputedly commonly used for money laundering purposes so banks will rightly be cautious about anyone using them for it.

Farmer_Johnson

Gambling like this is not income. Stringing a few wins together is not a guide to being able to make a living doing it.

If you dig deeper it is almost certain that he’s remembering his wins and forgetting his losses. Rather than worrying about banks (rightly) being wary of that sort of a business (and was it a business account?) you should try to help him to find something other than gambling to fill his day.

dj1471

I'm surprised that Revolut are opposed to cryptocurrency trading, this is a service they offer themselves! Perhaps the problem was that a competitor's service was being used...

sue_marie

Farmer_Johnson wrote: »

Gambling like this is not income. Stringing a few wins together is not a guide to being able to make a living doing it.

If you dig deeper it is almost certain that he’s remembering his wins and forgetting his losses. Rather than worrying about banks (rightly) being wary of that sort of a business (and was it a business account?) you should try to help him to find something other than gambling to fill his day.

My son is 30 and I have tried long and hard to help him find suitable work, but without success. Only crypto trading suits his various issues and gives him much-needed confidence. You dismiss it as gambling. I have bought and sold shares but don’t consider myself a gambler as such although of course their value can go down as well as up.

le_loup

Of course trading - crypto or otherwise is gambling. I'm sure your buying and selling was not day trading.

18cc

To answer your specific question the only thing I can suggest is to go into branches of the various banks and be upfront about what you want an account for maybe even take your son along and see if anybody can help

I think to avoid account being shut that notice it is best to be upfront at the very beginning and probably not do this by applying for accounts online or over the telephone

jonnygee2

My son enjoys crypto trading, sometimes making around £100 in a day.

How sure are you he is actually legitimately trading and in profit? In a completely unpredictable market that has declined 85% in twelve months, it is near to impossible to be making money overall.

This aside, to answer your question, there are no banks which welcome crypto trading. The simple reason is that bank have a legal responsibility to prevent their accounts being used for money laundering, with huge fines and potential criminal penalties if they fail. With crypto they have no visibility over where the money is coming from or going to, so they cannot fulfil their legal responsibilities.

You dismiss it as gambling. I have bought and sold shares but don’t consider myself a gambler

Bitcoin trading is gambling. The fluctuations are not predictable and there is no underlying value to the product.

Terry_Towelling

sue_marie wrote: »

My son enjoys crypto trading, sometimes making around £100 in a day. He is autistic and it’s his only real source of income. However, so far this year he has had one bank account (Monzo) closed permanently with no explanation and another three (Halifax, TSB and Revolut) were frozen then reinstated on condition that he did not use them for any further crypto trading.
It would be terrible if he’s forced out in this way. Do you know of any banks that would welcome him?
He’s trading legally and will declare his income to HMRC.
Many thanks.

Has your son worked out why he is seemingly so successful at this trading?

NewToTheUkAgain

I hope not to take the OP message too far off topic, but how do people manage to trade crypto currency without having bank accounts shut down?

Farmer_Johnson

sue_marie wrote: »

My son is 30 and I have tried long and hard to help him find suitable work, but without success. Only crypto trading suits his various issues and gives him much-needed confidence. You dismiss it as gambling. I have bought and sold shares but don’t consider myself a gambler as such although of course their value can go down as well as up.

I do, and that view comes with the benefit of a great many years trading professionally. What you consider yourself to be is neither here nor there, your Son is gambling, and I would be absolutely amazed if his track record is anything close to being as good as he believes it is.

If you want to facilitate his addiction rather than helping him with it then that is really sad, but he’s your son, and it’s his life that you are damaging, so knock yourself out.