With the European Parliament plenary vote expected later this year, the UK will soon enforce the new cryptocurrency and stablecoin law by mid-2024. The Economic Secretary of the Treasury, Bim Afolami, declared this at the same event as the Innovate Finance Global Summit. This Act is meant to set up a comprehensive regulatory regime for crypto firms and make Great Britain even more popular for cryptocurrency businesses.
Afolami stressed the crucial importance of speed of action in completing the plans for the new regime. The current regulation was passed in June 2023 and aims to enforce the Financial Services and Markets Act, which was passed in the same month. This act—the crypto industry’s main capstone activity—was as much a regulated service as it was a financial activity.
UK crypto regulations aim for market fairness
The proposed regulations are sure to bring different areas of crypto assets under the regulatory frameworks of the respective nations. In this regard, they can be engaged in the following activities:- running exchanges and offering custody services for clients’ assets.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is likely to launch a consultative appraisal on the licensing regimes for crypto firms in the near future. This established strict regulation and supervision of the cryptocurrency markets in the UK.
Moreover, the policy will ensure fairness in foreign companies, thus creating a level field. The purpose is to involve them in the general stream of operations of financial institutions while ensuring that these financial regulations are still respected. Consequently, this strategy acts as a testament to the UK’s ability to offer investors and companies an encompassing, secure trading space.
FCA criticized for slow application feedback
Even though these procedures have answered some callings, the crypto business in the UK continues to stumble upon a few challenges as well. Crypto firms have highlighted that the FCA had given insufficient feedback or an inexplicable timeframe for considering their applications.
The ongoing regulations crunch has also compelled many traditional crypto giants to downsize and limit the sort of services they can offer to UK clients. In February 2024 alone, the FCA required about 450 illegal crypto advertisements to be disclosed before three months elapsed.
The enterprises’ answers to the procedures have found some regulations to be cumbersome. Among those who support a strictly regulated space industry and those who feel the sector would mature without it, some are concerned about the operational costs, and others are not.
As the UK legislative system perfects its legal framework, it becomes a litmus test for the entire global crypto industry. The balanced view towards the creation of an innovation-friendly environment along with consumer safeguarding will always stay on the agenda.
The UK takes a serious step towards its crypto regulatory agenda by unveiling stricter crypto regulations. This excites the UK’s burgeoning crypto market, and consequently, the impact on the local and global crypto viability is an inevitable result.
Considering the effectiveness of the regulations, the other states already in the process of regulating the cryptocurrency space this year will likely follow the cue to introduce rules later this year. In the case of Poland, you will find cryptocurrency regulation on the agenda.
