The Truth About Lloyds Bank's "Ban" On Customers Buying Bitcoin
5 February 2018, 08:11 | Updated: 5 February 2018, 08:15
The headline on the Daily Telegraph claims: "Lloyds Bank In Crackdown On Bitcoin". LBC's Business Correspondent Emma Sinclair reveals the truth behind the headline.
The newspaper reports that Lloyds Bank has banned Bitcoin purchases on its credit cards.
Emma explains: "My immediate thought was 'Who is a bank to tell me how to spend my money?'
"But then I read further and it will not apply to debit cards. This only for the bank's eight million credit card customers.
"Whilst it is not the job of a company to tell us how to spend our money, we're a country in debt with high interest rates. And it is a question whether it's right to allow people to buy heavily fluctuating currencies on a credit card.
"I want to do what I want to do with my money, but I can understand the decision."
The value of Bitcoin has fallen 57% in just two months, from £14,000 in December, to £6,000 last night. But Emma insists the future is still positive for the currency.
She added: "It's a hell of a drop, but it's still £1,000 higher than it was last year. It's a long game.
"Crypto-currencies are purported to be the way of the future."
