Crypto Firms Undeterred by Strict Regulation — ‘They Know We Have a Good System’ – Regulation Bitcoin News

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Britain’s top financial regulator, has revealed that many crypto firms are still seeking licenses to operate in the U.K. despite failing to meet regulatory requirements the first time. “They know we have a good system of regulation and if they meet our standards that’s important for every jurisdiction that they seek to apply for around the world,” said the regulator.

FCA Crypto Regulation

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) executive director for competition and consumers, Sheldon Mills, talked about cryptocurrency regulation at a City & Financial conference Thursday.

British lawmakers and the crypto industry have criticized the country’s top financial regulator for being slow in processing license applications and for rejecting many applicants despite the government previously stating that it wants to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto assets.

Mills said that many companies that are operating in crypto aren’t deterred from strict licensing requirements. She also noted that some of these firms are applying again for licences to work in the U.K. after they were rejected. “It’s no surprise that I still see many crypto firms still seeking to get licenses here in the U.K. even though some have been denied those licenses at the first pass,” she said, elaborating:

They know we have a good system of regulation and if they meet our standards that’s important for every jurisdiction that they seek to apply for around the world.

“That is a benefit to the U.K. economy and U.K. financial service industry, and is good for competition, inward investment, and growth,” Mills added, noting that 95 people have been hired to join the FCA’s licensing team and the number of pending applications has fallen by 40%.

In a previous statement, the FCA stated that 90 percent of all crypto-firms applying to be licensed in the U.K. had either withdrawn their applications or were refused due to not meeting the standard.

Mills emphasized:

As we get older, faster decisions are expected to help reduce the overall cost of regulation.

The U.K. may see changes to crypto regulations under Liz Truss as the prime minister. Several key officials who previously worked on the country’s crypto policy resigned from government before she took office, including Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen.

Last week, the British government presented the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill to the House of Commons. It “aims to strengthen the U.K.’s fight against economic crime,” the government detailed. In May, the U.K. government detailed its intentions to encourage crypto adoption and reiterated that it would regulate stablecoins.

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Kevin Helms

Kevin is a graduate of Austrian Economics. He discovered Bitcoin in 2011, and has been an advocate ever since. His main interests are in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, cryptography, and intersections between economics, cryptography, and Cryptography.