Cryptocurrency Ban Expands Across Canadian Banks as BMO Joins ‎Crackdown

The policy applies to credit and debit cards, ‎as well as online payments.‎

BMO Financial Group (Bank of Montreal) has banned credit and debit card ‎customers from buying cryptocurrencies, another blow for the crypto-traders ‎who recently saw a sizable number of banks deciding not to ‎finance the wobbly asset class.‎

Bank of Montreal started declining ‎cryptocurrency transactions with known exchanges on March 28, ‎according to a bulletin published on Reddit by a user claiming ‎to be working for the bank.‎


The policy applies to all personal and business credit cards, ‎according to a memo. It also affects debit cards and online banking ‎services through the BMO’s Interac Online Payments.‎

The leaked memo states: “effective immediately, BMO will be ‎blocking cryptocurrency merchant transactions. This ‎decision was made due to the volatile nature of ‎cryptocurrencies and to better protect the security of our ‎clients and the bank.”‎

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BMO’s decision follows several of the biggest Canadian banks banning ‎cryptocurrency transaction over the past few months, as part of a global crackdown ‎led by major lenders and credit card issuers. Canada’s largest bank ‎Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) has blocked attempts to buy ‎digital currencies last month. ‎

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Canada’s second-largest ‎bank by assets, didn’t cut off card purchases but said it would ‎allow transactions involving cryptocurrency only “in limited ‎circumstances.”‎

While BMO is not the first, but the action exacerbates pressures and make it more ‎difficult for enthusiasts to buy into the market as more other banks could shortly ‎follow suit.‎

The banks fear that allowing purchases of cryptocurrencies using money ‎borrowed on credit cards could leave them on the hook if the buyers’ bets were ‎wrong and couldn’t repay their debts.‎


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