Someone will eventually bring up the same grievance at any UK fintech meetup these days: their bank refused to allow the transfer. The bank, not the wallet or the exchange. It’s a common joke among Britons who are interested in cryptocurrency, and it’s likely the most overlooked consideration when deciding where to trade. It doesn’t really matter if NatWest determines that your payment appears suspicious, even if you choose the platform with the cheapest fees and the most user-friendly interface.
Any fair comparison of UK cryptocurrency platforms must take this tension into account. People who have been trading for a few years frequently talk about Kraken and Coinbase, primarily because their “Pro” and “Advanced” tiers are less expensive than their standard apps. To be honest, it’s an odd design decision, almost like the platforms want to impose a convenience tax on anyone who hasn’t taken the time to read the fine print. Fees can be reduced from approximately 1% to a fraction of that by switching to the advanced interface.
eToro and Revolut are in a completely different lane. They are designed for those who would prefer not to give order books or liquidity depth much thought. Even though it’s difficult to determine how much of that confidence is earned versus borrowed, eToro’s copy-trading feature in particular has developed something of a cult following. There’s an odd comfort in seeing your portfolio mirror someone else’s moves. Revolut, on the other hand, gains from being present on millions of UK phones; cryptocurrency becomes just another tab in an app that users already rely on for regular banking.
Right now, regulation is where things really get complicated, and it’s worth taking a look. Since January 2020, the FCA has mandated that cryptoasset companies register under anti-money laundering regulations, but things are quickly changing. The application window for the new authorization regime will open at the end of September this year, and the full framework will go into effect in October 2027. Although the regulator has rejected the vast majority of registration applications it has received, it is still unclear how disruptive that shift will be for smaller platforms.
Speaking with those who have been burned in the past gives me the impression that no amount of FCA registration eliminates the risk. Regardless of whether the exchange is registered or not, compensation protection does not apply to cryptocurrency in the same manner as it does to a savings account. The informal, low-friction cryptocurrency trading of a few years ago appears more and more like a regulated financial product—paperwork, scrutiny, and all—when you add a new requirement for platforms to report transaction data to HMRC.
None of this indicates that the market is contracting. On the contrary, it appears that exchanges are racing to add copy-trading tools, debit cards, and staking products before most users can assess them. The question of whether today’s leaders—Kraken on security, Coinbase on simplicity, and eToro on social trading—will continue to hold those positions after the 2027 authorization deadline forces a true sorting of who gets to stay is more difficult to forecast.
