The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom has announced 50 current investigations as part of its efforts to crack down on unregistered cryptocurrency businesses.
In the last six months, the FCA said it has started more than 300 cases into unregistered crypto companies, “many of which may be scams.”
The FCA claimed it had initiated more than 300 cases into unregistered crypto companies in the previous six months, “many of which may be frauds,” according to a statement released on Thursday.
Furthermore, the country’s financial authority announced that it was pursuing 50 ongoing investigations against permitted crypto firms, which might include criminal probes.
Between April and September 2021, UK people sent about 16,400 inquiries to the FCA, which included crypto-related scams.
The agency said it would use “more robust supervision and enforcement action,” as well as “being stricter with enterprises that wish to operate” in the United Kingdom.
The financial watchdog launched public discussions in January on suggestions that included applying its financial promotion guidelines to “high-risk investments, including cryptoassets.” The group is taking suggestions until March 23.
To operate for UK-based users, crypto exchanges and organizations providing crypto-related services must register with the FCA.
According to Coinscreed, out of the roughly 200 organizations that submitted, 32 had been approved as Registered Crypto Asset Service Providers in the country as of Feb. 23.
Uphold and eToro’s U.K. subsidiaries, as well as Light Technology, received crypto licenses from the regulatory body this year.
Other regulatory organizations in the United Kingdom have taken action against crypto businesses, typically linking the area to illegal transactions and other illegal activity.
The country’s Advertising Standards Authority prohibited commercials from five major crypto exchanges in December, calling one from Coinbase’s European office “misleading” and another from Kraken operator Payward “lackluster” in terms of warnings about potential financial hazards.
