Revolut France Has Blocked Top-Ups From Cards Issued in 53 Countries

Revolut France has notified its users that they can no longer top up their accounts with bank cards issued in 53 countries. The list oddly includes several jurisdictions where international payment cards aren’t issued at all (Russia, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, etc.). It’s obvious that card transfers from these places are impossible in the first place.

But the list also contains countries where no technical issues exist: China (including Hong Kong), the UAE, Turkey, Serbia, and others.

This list makes one thing clear: Revolut France is no longer able to maintain a compliance process capable of properly vetting all incoming card transfers that may carry risk. Instead of filtering them, the company simply decided to block the entire category.

To me, this looks like a clear sign that the traditional AML system is collapsing under its own weight. It has become so complex that it’s now easier to shut down entire payment channels than to follow all the rules.

Meanwhile, in most of the countries on Revolut’s list, you can buy cryptocurrency and send it to France — or anywhere else — without any issues.

And if you’re worried that modern AML systems might come crashing down on you, there are non-traceable options as well:

• Bitcoin via the Lightning Network,
• Litecoin sent to a MimbleWimble address,
• privacy coins like ZEC, XMR, DASH, or ARRR,
• or even USDT on the Liquid network.

Moreover, on rabbit.io you can swap any of these assets into mainstream stablecoins like USDC or USDT on Ethereum — both of which Revolut accepts for balance top-ups without any problems.

For anyone who still thinks crypto transfers are “too complicated”, this situation shows the opposite: traditional card payments can be far more complicated — and sometimes impossible altogether.