Lloyds Banking Group which owns Halifax, Bank of Scotland, MBNA and Lloyds will block Bitcoin purchases with their credit cards. The restriction is applied because the financial institutions worry that their customers might borrow cash to invest in the cryptocurrency and might end up in debt.
Bitcoin price jumped from $800 to over $18,000 in 12 months, as the public interest grew. The price is currently under $8,000, and banks are worried their customers might get caught up in the craze and end up maxing out their credit cards.
The same decision was taken last week in the US. Bank of America, JP Morgan Change, and Citigroup credit cards are now blocked from Bitcoin purchases, citing the same reasons. Although some countries are already treating the cryptocurrency as a taxable commodity, governments are still struggling to figure out a proper regulation.
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