Coinbase, Revolut, and Binance have made updates to their mobile and web applications to comply with the new United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) marketing rules, which took effect on October 8.
Over the weekend, Coinbase and Revolut notified their customers via email about these changes, including additional “risk disclaimers” for crypto transactions, and asked their users to update the mobile application.
Binance launched a new dedicated webpage for UK customers. It resumed operations of its mobile app, asserting compliance with new regulations after temporarily halting operation through it, the exchange said in an email to its British customers.
Ex-FCA Chair: UK Regulator Faced 'Political Pressure' to Welcome Crypto Firms
One of the UK’s leading regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), allegedly came under “political pressure” to approve crypto firms that now face criminal investigations overseas, according to its former chair Charles Randell. Randell was speaking at a conference on Tuesday hosted by the Bank of England regulatory body, the Prudential Regulation Authority. “In the context of crypto, in my experience as FCA chair, there was a lot of political pressure to welcome firms, some of which are...
Komainu, a digital asset custody firm in UK, backed by Nomura, CoinShares, and Ledger procured the license for operating in the region last week on October 6. Komainu provides custodial services to exchanges, financial institutions, and asset managers.
At the same time, some others like ByBit and, reportedly, Luno have decided to suspend operations.
PayPal has also temporarily paused crypto purchases for British users as it worked toward making the app compliant with the updated regulations.
This morning, the financial regulatory body issued alerts to 146 crypto firms operating in the UK warning that they are “not authorised or registered by the FCA.”
The public statement from the regulator added that it expects the firms to “play their part in protecting UK consumers from illegal promotions.”
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What are the new FCA rules?
Earlier this year, the FCA imposed new rules that require crypto firms to register with the financial regulator and have their marketing approved by an FCA-authorized firm.
The new updates require exchanges provide fair warnings to customers about the risks involved in crypto investments.
The marketing material must be “clear, fair and not misleading” and include a 24-hour cooling-off period for new customers.
UK's New Financial Promotion Guidelines Don't Include Crypto—Yet
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today introduced tougher rules for advertising high-risk financial products such as non‑mainstream pooled investments, speculative illiquid securities, and peer‑to‑peer (P2P) platforms, among others. The FCA also stressed that the new guidelines don’t yet apply to crypto promotions, which will have a separate set of rules once the government and parliament confirm “how crypto marketing will be brought into the FCA's remit.” Nevertheless, the agency said tha...
While the regulator extended the deadline for implementing the technically difficult features like the cooling-off period until January 2024, it requires the firms to adhere to the “core rules” from October 8.
Failure to comply will be charged with a “criminal offense punishable by an unlimited fine and/or up to two years imprisonment” for domestic and overseas exchanges operating in the U.K., the agency noted in a recent statement.
