The Account of cryptocurrency retailers

HSBC and Barclays have apparently frozen accounts of a company by the name of 50cycles. Owner of 50cycles Scott Snaith has been trying to stay away from partnering with businesses with the U.K. high banks. Because of his experience with having his company thrown into distress and the freezing of the business account.

Scott’s account was frozen by HSBC and Barclays a few hours after he had initiated a five-figure bitcoin transaction through the trading platform Localbitcoins. Where he sold his bitcoins for fiat currency, which went into his personal bank account and not his company account. Scott Snaith has verified that all transactions were transparent and that his partners were U.K. trading partners account holders who had verified identification. There was no explanation given to Scott for the closure of his account, stating that he has been the victim of financial discrimination.

The importance of having the option of privacy

Scott Snaith stated that ” My two personal bank accounts and business account were frozen for using a well-known bitcoin trading site. No unlawful activity has taken place but just because the word ‘Bitcoin’ was mentioned in my account, my accounts got locked instantly. A ‘senior fraud advisor’ then closed my complaint off – leaving me with no choice but to take the issue to the Financial Ombudsman for an appeal. This situation is a complete nightmare and the knock-on effects have been unbelievable. One of my staff left as they had just had a baby and couldn’t afford to be in a job that was unable to pay them, which isn’t surprising,”

HSBC has reinstated the account of Scott, however, Barclays has not been able to unfreeze the company account as of yet. Scott mentioned that he will never be able to bank with Barclays again, as he is a professional business owner taking advantage of new financial technologies and banks are failing their customers. The banks creating a new form of financial discrimination.

This is a clear case of the high street Banks abusing their power. When corporate decisions get processed like this, this is wrong said Scott Snaith.

What is your opinion on this situation? Let us know in a comment below