Major banks bar people from buying Bitcoin using their credit cards

Customers can still use their debit cards to make the cryptocurrency buys.

The Lloyds ban, which comes into effect today across all of the British banking giant’s brands, will mean cryptocurrency exchanges are blacklisted by the bank, preventing customers from taking on debt to buy the volatile assets.

Law enforcement agencies have expressed concerns over cryptocurrency transactions because majority are untraceable.

Well, the crux of the news is this: banks no longer want you to be able to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using your credit card. There’s also the risk that thieves will abuse cards that were purloined or based on stolen identities, turning them into crypto hoards. Since then, the value of their stake has fallen 63%. Sort of like what has happened with Bitcoin.

Significant numbers of people in Britain are thought to have bought Bitcoin as it surged in value, peaking at almost US$20,000 (£14,465) in December.

Barclays is Britain’s leading credit card issuer with a market share of around 27 percent through its Barclaycard brand. The use of credit cards is also an avenue for criminals as they can turn them in to crypto hoards.

Over the past year, Bitcoin has surged more than 700%, reaching highs of $20,000.

It seems like some individuals irresponsible investing is now affecting a majority of U.S crypto investors now. The world’s biggest payments networks, Visa and Mastercard, warned earlier about the volatility and high risk of the cryptocurrency market.

On Wall Street, stocks are routinely purchased “on margin”, meaning with borrowed money. This has taken many investors into despair; some even into debt. The cryptocurrency market in the month of January took some fairly large hits and it remains unclear as to how that it has affected the major banks. Additionally, the borrower pays a credit card interest rate of 16 percent or more.

“At present United Kingdom customers can use both their Barclays debit card and Barclaycard credit card to purchase cryptocurrency legitimately”, the Barclays spokeswoman said.