U.K.’S Financial Regulator and Crypto-Related Businesses

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the U.K.’s chief financial regulator. Importantly, the U.K. adopted the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule” recommendation into national law. As a result, it is the responsibility of the regulator to ensure that all crypto companies follow the new anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulations.

Interestingly, the FCA released a statement connected with the crypto industry. Any company that is involved in the crypto asset activity must submit their completed applications by June 30.

As a reminder, the hard deadline for applications is January 10, 2021. Nevertheless, the FCA wants to spend six months reviewing the applications by the crypto companies.

According to the regulator, the June 30 deadline allows the FCA to review submitted applications. Furthermore, the regulator will be able to work with crypto companies to address all questions. Hopefully, the U.K.’s financial regulator is ready to help them, and companies do not have to worry about unfair treatment.

It is worth mentioning that, if the company fails to register with authorities, they will have no other option rather than stop all activities in the U.K. They need to comply with regulations by January 10, 2021.

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Authorities and crypto companies

As stated above, the U.K. adopted the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule” recommendation into national law.

In 2019, the FCA issued guidance on regulation for cryptocurrencies. It is also worth mentioning that it highlighted what types of tokens currently fall under its jurisdiction.

As a reminder, in 2018 the Financial Conduct Authority started welcoming crypto startups into its regulatory sandbox. Importantly, this initiative allows businesses to set up and to test new products and services with temporary and provisory authorization from the FCA.

Last but not least, the FCA appointed its new chief executive Nikhil Rathi, who served as a director of the London Stock Exchange.