Barclays – a high-profile, UK-based bank – has reportedly ceased its collaboration with the US-headquartered crypto exchange firm Coinbase.

Reported by anonymous sources on August 13, Barclay will stop providing banking services for Coinbase, consequently putting an end to a partnership lasting from March last year, when Coinbase opened an its account.

The news is expected to have a profound impact on the crypto world, since, aside from the relationship between the biggest crypto platform in the world in terms of trading volume, and a heavyweight among the traditional banks, the termination may permanently prevent Coindesk users to log into the UK’s Faster Payments Scheme (FPS), and reduce the speed of crypto-to-pound exchange rate drastically.

The exact reason behind the break is yet to be disclosed, but a source revealed the following: 

“It is my understanding that Barclays’ risk appetite has contracted a little — I’m not sure exactly why or what’s been driving that, maybe there has been some activity they are not happy with. But it’s about Barclays’ comfort level with crypto as a whole.”

Coinbase will be remaining its access to the banking system in UK via Clearbank, a younger and less-renowned banking corporation.

Barclays have made moves to refrain its involvement with the crypto world in the past. In August last year, Barclays denied introducing a new trading desk, as 2 members of the bank has taken information related to cryptocurrency off their LinkedIn pages.