The UK’s biggest mutual said in light of the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority highlighting certain risks associated with buying cryptocurrency, it has introduced new limits “to help keep members’ money safe”.

It has now introduced limits on card payments made to crypto exchanges (including digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Wallet) from a current account, with the level depending on which account you have.

Further, it will not allow payments to crypto exchanges using a Nationwide credit card.

For adult current account holders – FlexBasic, FlexStudent, FlexGraduate, FlexAccount, FlexPlus,  FlexDirect – the daily card limit stands at £5,000.

Customers with a FlexOne account now have a £100 daily card limit. If you go over these limits, Nationwide confirmed the transaction will be declined.

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The limits are applied daily per card which means that if you have more than one current account, the limit applies to each account. For joint account holders, this means they will each have the limit applied to each card.

Meanwhile, for Nationwide credit card customers, the society confirmed neither the card holder nor additional card holders will be able to use this to buy crypto currency.

A Nationwide spokesperson, said: “To help protect our members from cryptocurrency scams, the Society has introduced a daily limit on debit card payments to crypto assets of £5,000 per day. Members will also be prevented from using a Nationwide credit card to purchase crypto assets. This is aimed at helping protect our members.”

Last month, the Treasury and Bank of England confirmed a ‘digital pound’ is being considered which would likely be launched within the next decade.

It came just after the Government announced plans to “robustly” regulate the crypto asset sector.