Crypto Exchanges Comply with UK Financial Regulations

Major global cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and OKX have announced that they are striving to comply with the United Kingdom’s new financial promotion regulations.

On Oct. 8, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom enacted the country’s new Financial Promotions (FinProm) Regime for cryptocurrency firms to ensure equitable, clean, and transparent cryptocurrency promotions.

Binance announced on October 6 that it has launched a new domain for users in the United Kingdom and partnered with local peer-to-peer lending platform Rebuildingsociety.

On October 8, retail users of Binance in the United Kingdom will receive a redirect to a localized domain that will only display Binance products and services that are compliant with U.K. laws.

These products will include spot and margin trading, Binance Pay, a marketplace for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and loans, among others. Following the new FCA regulations, however, Binance will discontinue offering gift cards, referral incentives, gift cards, an academy, and research.

The changes will only apply to retail users in the United Kingdom and will not affect institutional and professional investors who are exempt under the new FinProm rules. OKX stated FinProm compliance on Oct. 6 as well.

“Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.”

The exchange stated that it has reduced the number of tokens it offers to around 40 and added prominent risk warnings to its interface. One such warning appears at the top of the OKX homepage, urging investors to take a few moments to learn more about the dangers associated with crypto investments.

In addition, OKX has created a U.K.-specific account on X (previously Twitter). The company has committed to mentioning on its social media page the products and services that will comply with new U.K. regulations.

MoonPay, a crypto payment service, is another industry company striving to comply with the new FinProm regulations. According to MoonPay’s deputy general counsel, Matt Sullivan, operating a global business is one of the greatest obstacles to ensuring compliance with the rules.

“The difficulty arises in ensuring compliance with all of these new requirements in the United Kingdom while operating globally,” adding that some cryptocurrency firms have reportedly struggled to comply with the new promotion rules in the United Kingdom.

According to official FCA statements released on October 8, prominent cryptocurrency exchanges such as KuCoin and HTX (formerly Huobi) may have promoted their services without authorization.