UK FCA’s Crypto Registration, Only 13% Approved

Since January 2020, 291 crypto companies have applied for registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s primary financial regulator.

Only 13% of them were granted permission to operate in the country. On August 11, the FCA published a response to an unidentified right-to-know request.

Four issues regarding the registration statistics of crypto asset businesses were considered in the request. Since 2020, the regulator has received 291 registration applications but has only authorized 38 of them.

“Firms are required to provide the minimum information set out under regulation 57 of the MLRs, any firm that has not provided the required information will have their application rejected.”

The majority of applications (155) were withdrawn by the firms themselves, as the FCA encourages firms to reapply if not all criteria are met.

The FCA stated that firms permitted to “carry out crypto asset activities” in the United Kingdom must be registered with the FCA or granted transitory operating status.

Previously, the FCA had ordered Binance Markets Limited to cease operations in the country and issued “shut down or face further action” orders to local proprietors of cryptocurrency ATMs.

The FCA’s list of registered crypto asset providers comprises 42 entities, such as Skrill, eToro, and Gemini, at the time of publication.

In July, the FCA reminded all crypto asset companies in the United Kingdom that their marketing strategies must be compliant with its financial promotion regime by October 2023.

Previously, it was recommended that crypto firms implement a marketing strategy that provides customers with a “cooling-off period” to consider the risks associated with investing in digital assets.