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UK’s financial regulator FCA establishes temporary guidelines for crypto companies.

U.K.'s financial regulator FCA has expressed concern over a recent move by embattled digital asset exchange Binance that has
U.K.’s financial regulator FCA has expressed concern over a recent move by embattled digital asset exchange Binance that has given it access to the U.K. payments network.

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority established temporary registrations to crypto-asset companies that have already submitted applications but have not yet been processed. According to the official announcement made today, the companies will continue trading for an extended period until July 9, 2021, following the initial registration deadline of January 10, 2021. The FCA became the supervisor of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) measures for crypto firms in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2020.

FCA unable to process all applications due to the pandemic.

All crypto companies in the UK have to comply with AML and CTF regulations, requiring that they get registered by January 10, 2021. However, due to issues with site visits during the pandemic and what it describes as “the complexity and standard of the applications received,” the FCA has so far not been able to process all of the applications. Therefore, it has issued temporary registrations to all businesses that applied before December 16, providing an additional six months to process them. The extension only applies to crypto firms that were doing business before January 10, 2020, while any new company will require a full registration.

FCA tightens crypto regulations.

The Financial Conduct Authority is advising all customers of cryptocurrencies firms to check whether the firm is on the register, has temporary registration, or can continue to trade due to being registered in a different country. Sergey Zhdanov, the chief operating officer of Exmo, said, “We have some experience in getting an AEMI license (electronic money institution). It’s not exactly a piece of cake, but during that process the FCA tells you what is wrong or right and what you need to improve to get the license. Here we didn’t have that luck.” Earlier, the UK’s financial regulator banned all cryptocurrency derivatives products, such as futures, options due to the alleged harm they pose.

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