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Publication Date<br />

Headline<br />

Outlet<br />

URL<br />

Snippet<br />

05-Feb-2018<br />

Lloyds Bank bans Bitcoin purchases<br />

BBC Online<br />

Click to open<br />

Lloyds Banking Group has banned its customers from buying Bitcoin on their credit cards<br />

following a sharp fall in the value of the digital currency.<br />

The ban, starting Monday, applies to Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA<br />

customers.<br />

It will not apply to debit cards, only to the banking group's eight million credit card<br />

customers.<br />

Lloyds fears people are buying Bitcoin to make a profit if its value rises but face debts if it<br />

falls.<br />

It is concerned it could end up footing the bill for unpaid debts should the price continue to<br />

fall.<br />

Explaining the ban, a Lloyds spokeswoman said: "We continually review our products and<br />

procedures and this is part of that."<br />

What's the fuss about Bitcoin? From high school dropout to Bitcoin millionaire<br />

Bitcoin ended last week down 30% at $8,291.87 - its worst week since April 2013 and far<br />

below the $19,000 it reached last November.<br />

However, the cryptocurrency is still ahead of the $1,000 it was trading at this time last year.<br />

Police have warned that digital currencies remain popular among criminals as they can use<br />

them to evade traditional money laundering checks and other regulations.<br />

Prime Minister Theresa May recently said that action against digital currencies may be<br />

required "precisely because of the way they are used, particularly by criminals".<br />

She told Bloomberg: "In areas like cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, we should be looking at<br />

these very seriously."<br />

The Treasury said that it intends to update regulation to bring virtual currency platforms into<br />

anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulation.<br />

Facebook recently announced it would block any advertising that promotes cryptocurrency<br />

products and services.

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