UK’s Lloyds Bank Stops Credit Card for Cryptocurrency Transactions

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UK’s Lloyds Bank Stops Credit Card for Cryptocurrency Transactions
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Approximately nine million credit card holders associated with the massive Lloyds Bank in the United Kingdom, are now forbidden from making any cryptocurrency transactions with their cards. Lloyds Bank is associated with a few other banks, namely: Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA. These banks’ credit card holders can’t get Bitcoin on credit either.
Those on the Lloyds Bank inside are fearful of Bitcoin’s and the rest of the crypto market’s fall, since a lot of investors relied on credit to obtain crypto—someone will be left with a mountain of debt for those unpaid buys. That “someone” could very well be Lloyds Bank.
Thus, Lloyds Bank becomes the world’s first bank to ban online, cryptocurrency-related credit card transactions. Analysts are already predicting they certainly may not be the last, predicting other large central banks to do the same. And why not? After all, bank bosses don’t want to panic-sweat and continually refer to crypto charts all day.
Aside from the individual banks’ concerns, the British, like any other nation, is worried about “bad people” using Bitcoin to do “bad things”. This sentiment in tandem with the desire to control crypto and regulate it, was discussed at great length during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Most leaders, through sharing their fears and concerns, agreed somethings needed to be done, but what and when, was anyone’s guess.
Surely the credit card ban isn’t as large a hurdle as it may seem on paper. Most exchanges work directly with investors’ personal checking and savings accounts, so the need for a credit card isn’t as severe—unless one’s crypto portfolio is everything they have. And, as we’re learning, this is indeed the case: investors will take all of their money and invest it in crypto. They then use credit cards for everyday life because they can.
Additionally, the cycle can be hard to break: invest, pay off debt with crypto, invest, pay off debt with crypto, use credit card for food, invest. Using one’s bank account directly for transactions, is always preferable for everyone, anyway really. The irony of course being a typical British crypto investor, will pay off their credit card bill in crypto.