What the UK’s FCA is focused on while drawing up its crypto regime   

New research by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) shows 93% of UK adults have heard of crypto assets. About 12% of those surveyed own them — representing about 7 million people.

These findings point to “the need for clear regulation that supports a safe, competitive and sustainable crypto sector,” said Matthew Long, the FCA’s director of payments and digital assets.

Sounds like a good time for an update on the FCA’s approach.

We received just that on Tuesday, as Long detailed some of the takeaways from the UK regulator’s chats this year with crypto companies, law firms, government officials and other regulators in the country. Even the US SEC gave its two cents.

A few interesting bits from Long’s report:

• Participants liked the idea of an industry-led disclosures regime proportionate and tailored to different business models (i.e. institutional and retail).
• While some want disclosure rules similar to those in TradFi, others raised concerns about applying this approach to crypto.
• There were discussions around “best execution” criteria for client orders (beyond price, important factors include custody arrangements and asset safety).
• Participants believe exchanges issuing their own tokens or operating brokerage and market-making services pose conflict-of-interest risk.

An FCA roadmap shows a go-live date for the regime sometime in 2026, with some other steps along the way.

In the meantime, the FCA said it’s working on a market-abuse information sharing platform (to address stated challenges posed by data privacy laws across jurisdictions, for example).

These details came after UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq said last week to expect legislation on stablecoins and staking services soon.

So there will be plenty more to monitor in the UK as it seeks to catch up to the EU. And the US too is expected to make regulatory moves next year under a more crypto-friendly president and Congress.

Stay tuned.