The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s financial markets regulator, has added several cryptocurrency exchanges to its list of non-authorized firms that customers “should avoid.”
143 new entities, including prominent exchanges such as Huobi-owned HTX and KuCoin, were added to the warning list. The warning list only states, “You should avoid doing business with this company.”
In the United Kingdom, however, firms permitted to “carry out crypto asset activities” must either be FCA-registered or have been granted interim operating status. Jayson Probin, the FCA’s chief for crypto financial promotions, suggested in July that noncompliance could result in criminal charges:
“We will take robust action against persons illegally promoting to U.K. consumers. This may include, but it is not limited to, placing firms on our warning list requesting take downs of websites, social media accounts, apps and all other promotions that are in breach, and enforcement action.”
The FCA disclosed in August that since 2020, it has received 291 applications for registration but has only approved 38 of them, or approximately 13%. The FCA’s list of registered crypto asset providers comprises 42 entities, such as Bitstamp, Revolut, and Gemini, at the time of publication.
PayPal has recently suspended cryptocurrency transactions for its U.K. customers until it can comply with the FCA’s requirements. Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Dubai, suspended all of its services in the United Kingdom at the end of September due to “regulatory changes.”
