- The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that FTX wasn’t authorized to offer financial products or services.
- FTX has offered similar warnings in the past, most notably with respect to Binance.
- U.K. regulators have taken a number of steps to introduce control over the market.
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning to consumers about crypto exchange FTX. The FCA published a notice saying that the exchange lacked the authorization to provide services in the country.
Specifically, the FCA said that any firm or individual offering financial services must receive prior approval from it. The notice reads,
“This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. You will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so you are unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong.”
This is not the first time that the FCA has issued a warning about exchanges. In the past, the authority warned consumers against Binance, offering the same reason that it had not registered with it. Binance, in particular, has been the target of regulators across the world.
Binance has made an effort to follow regulation and become more compliant. It recently received approval to operate in Kazakhstan. It has also been discussing regulation with financial watchdogs in the Philippines.
United Kingdom Authorities Taking Crypto Regulation Seriously
Crypto has become steadily more popular in the United Kingdom, and various authorities have noted that the market should focus on compliance. For instance, it plans to regulate stablecoins as a part of the New Financial Services and Markets bill.
Meanwhile, the FCA has introduced a 10% rule for crypto investors and is working on policies for the crypto market. It has also issued an AML compliance and risk obligation reminder to crypto firms. The Bank of England also released an updated crypto framework for regulation, making references to DeFi, among other things.
The country is expected to make more progress with regulation in the coming year. It will be interesting to see how it develops, as it has an enthusiastic user base for crypto.