The number of companies that have been allowed to operate and offer their crypto services to the residents of the United Kingdom under the temporary registration status of the Financial Conduct Authority has dropped from twelve to five.
As per the list of the Cryptoasset firms that have temporary registration, the FCA, which is the United Kingdom’s financial regulator, has named Moneybrain, Revolut, CEX.IO, Global block, and Copper are the companies that are allowed to operate along with the additional 34 registered crypto-asset firms that have been approved by the FCA since August 2020.
On March 30, FCA had said that it would extend the temporary registration status for a minimal number of companies where it is extremely important, and in that time, it was 12 companies. The firms that have been allowed to execute crypto and virtual asset activities are registered with the FCA, or these companies are granted temporary status, which is also set to expire in March 2022. This norm is applied to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
Last year FCA had ordered Binance Markets Limited to stop any crypto activity in the United Kingdom. They have also been ordered to either shut their operations or face further action. A lot of crypto firms withdrew their registration application completely.
The FCA has taken a strategic approach for the next three years where it will work with the government of the U.K. in order to develop a regulatory approach to crypto and virtual assets, including the use of stablecoins and the elimination of “problem firms” that is under its scope.
