U.K. Regulator Has Extended The TRR Deadline For Existing Crypto Firms To 2022. - TCR

• With many crypto-based businesses failing to meet the AML/CTF Rules, the FCA has extended the TRR deadline from July 2021 to March 2022.
• The U.K. regulator recorded an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their registration applications.
• The FCA recognized cryptocurrencies as highly speculative assets that can quickly lose value and advised consumers to make crypto decisions wisely.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the financial services regulator in the United Kingdom, reported that a large number of cryptocurrency-focused businesses have failed to meet the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) rules. Announced Thursday, given the current situation, the British watchdog has decidedly extended the deadline for the Temporary Registrations Regime (TRR). 

Crypto Businesses Fails To Meet Required Standards

Last year, FCA issued TRR, a temporary licensing regime, allowing the crypto-based firms, whose registration applications are still being assessed, to continue trading. However, per the assessment, “a significantly high number of businesses” did not meet the “required standards,” resulting in “an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their applications.” 

FCA Extended The TRR Deadline

The U.K.-based regulator has thus pushed back the TRR deadline for the existing crypto firms from July 9, 2021, to March 31, 2022, allowing them to continue operations “while the FCA continues with its robust assessment.” The AML/CFT legislation, protecting citizens against criminal activity and terrorist groups-enabled disguised fund transfers, is one of the many elements assessed in an FCA assessment. The regulator registers firms only after confirming their credibility and that they aren’t involved in such misconduct.

So far, only five crypto firms have registered with FCA, including the Gemini and British start-up Ziglu, while dozens or so applicants sit piled up on the TRR list.

High-Stakes Investments In Highly Speculative Assets

Despite exhibiting support, the regulator recognizes cryptocurrencies as “highly speculative” assets that can “lose value quickly,” and advises people to make crypto decisions wisely. For one, the FCA doesn’t have consumer protection powers over the firm’s crypto activities. And secondly, irrespective of whether “a firm has temporary or full registration,” it isn’t bound to protect client assets. Moreover, with offenders shielded behind their screens, cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), have been used to empower many illegal activities like money laundering and cyberattacks.

In January, the FCA issued a statement warning crypto investors to be “prepared to lose all their money.” Last month, the Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, previously chief executive of the FCA, also expressed similar sentiments, adding that cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value.”