Buying bitcoin in the UK
The UK is the one market on this site where the list of exchanges has been shrinking rather than growing. Three of the five names elsewhere on these pages have pulled back from British customers or from the people who write about them.
What changed in October 2023
Since 8 October 2023 any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers falls under the Financial Conduct Authority's financial promotions regime, wherever in the world the firm sits. Breaching it is a criminal offence, not a fine from a regulator's complaints desk. The practical result on screen is the risk warning and the cooling off period you meet the first time you open an account.
The same rules reach the sites that write about exchanges. That is why this page names one exchange and says nothing persuasive about it, and why it carries no sponsored link of any kind.
Who has stepped back
- Kraken closed its affiliate and referral programs to UK residents on 8 August 2025, while keeping the exchange itself open.
- Coinbase's UK affiliate program is reported closed. We could not read that on Coinbase's own pages, so treat it as second hand.
- Gemini closed UK and EU accounts in 2026.
- Binance stopped taking new UK users on 16 October 2023.
None of that stops a UK resident buying bitcoin. It means the choice is narrower and the offers you see are quieter, which is the regime working as intended.
One FCA authorised route
eToro is authorised by the FCA and open to UK buyers. It is named here for that reason and for no other. Read its own fee page and its own risk warning before deciding anything.
Tax
HMRC publishes its cryptoassets manual and a consumer page on how gains are treated. Read them before the disposal rather than after the tax year ends.
Nothing on this page is a recommendation to open an account anywhere, and it is written by a Czech publisher, not by an FCA authorised firm.