- Revolut is suspending all cryptocurrency services in the United States on September 2 due to the uncertain regulatory environment.
- The service will be fully disabled on October 3
- Revolut clearly wants to avoid being targeted by U.S. authorities
London-based fintech firm Revolut is suspending all cryptocurrency services in the United States from September 2, with the company citing the uncertain regulatory environment. The move comes as a result of the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape and uncertainties surrounding the cryptocurrency market in the U.S., with the bank clearly not wanting to be held liable for potentially selling unlicensed securities. The move comes in the wake of other financial firms making similar calls, for example, Nasdaq’s decision to halt its crypto custody plans two weeks ago.
Three-year Experiment Halted
Revolut launched crypto trading for U.S. customers in June 2020 following Paypal’s entry into the space, but it seems that legal action from the likes of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has led the bank to become fearful of action potentially being take against it.
As a result, from September 2, Revolut’s U.S. customers will no longer have the option to place buy orders for cryptocurrencies through the platform, with the service being disabled on October 3. At this point, any remaining tokens held by users will be liquidated at market prices. Revolut
This announcement follows a previous move by Revolut to limit U.S. customers’ access to native cryptocurrencies for the Solana, Polygon, and Cardano blockchains (SOL, MATIC, and ADA) a month ago. The decision came after the SEC raised concerns about the three tokens, alleging that they were unregistered securities. The SEC’s allegations were part of high-profile lawsuits against major players in the cryptocurrency industry, including Binance and Coinbase.
Small Impact
While this is certainly a blow to those wishing to engage with the crypto space, it must be noted that the suspension of cryptocurrency services will exclusively impact U.S. users, affecting less than 1% of Revolut’s worldwide customer base. Customers outside the U.S. will not be affected by this change.
Revolut’s exit from the space, which will likely be quickly reversed should the SEC change its rhetoric, comes two weeks after Nasdaq dropped its plans for a crypto custody platform citing the same regulatory fears.
