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Commenting on the Financial Conduct Authorities deadline for approval of crypto company operations, which expires on Thursday 31 March, Ian Taylor, Executive Director at CryptoUK, the UK's independent crypto industry association, said: “The FCA has stated that it is given the 12 crypto firms still awaiting approval a period of time to either withdraw or appeal the FCA decision that they had not met the required standards.
“However, an unprecedented 80% of the rest, that is 160 out of 200 British crypto companies have been asked to withdraw. The impact for those companies is that they will have to operate off-shore. This means that there will be no consumer oversight if a UK citizen buys products from an online business domiciled in Malta, for example as they may still sell their services into eh UK
“Consumers will therefore have no recourse from the regulator, as the firm will operate outside the UK jurisdiction, which is bad for British consumer protection. This will also result in thousands of job losses at all of those 160 British crypto companies.
“This could also have another negative effect, in terms of illicit finance and sanctions avoidance. If the companies withdraw and move to less advanced regulatory environments, they will not be required to conduct globally accepted standards with regard to AML, KYC and transaction monitoring.
“It is unusual for the FCA to offer little support to companies trying to comply with their requirements. We need more transparency and guidance on best practice from the FCA so that companies that are already 90% compliant can be supported in reaching 100%.”
