The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Britain’s most important financial regulator, has announced that the U.S. will strengthen ties with the U.K. in crypto regulation. “In the past innovative companies would have pleaded for less regulation. They now understand and appreciate the importance of rules to provide certainty,” stated the British regulator.
Nikhil Rathi (UK Financial Conduct Authority) spoke Wednesday at Peterson Institute for International Economics to outline the FCA’s regulatory goals.
The chief of the FCA stated that crypto is a global area of focus, with both potential and inherent risks. “Our current remit is restricted to platform anti-money laundering rules. These strict rules have been applied to us as we would any other company that wishes to be in the U.K.
The regulator also added:
The U.S., U.K. will strengthen ties on crypto-asset regulations and market developments — including in relation stablecoins as well as the exploration of central banks digital currencies.
Rathi then mentioned that the FCA had held “Cryptosprints,” earlier in the year, with nearly 200 participants. The FCA explained that the event was designed to gather industry views and design a regulatory regime.
The chief financial regulator was described as:
Participants indicated that they want a regulatory system for cryptoassets to be a top priority. They also want it phased in over time to allow investors and firms to plan and adjust to the changing crypto assets.
“In the past innovative companies would have pleaded for less regulation. They now understand and accept that rules exist to provide certainty,” he stated.
The chief of the FCA noted:
We support responsible use of the technology, but we also ensure that it does not compromise consumer protection and market integrity.
In The Queen’s Speech, the U.K. government laid out its legislative agenda for next year. One bill aims at supporting “safe adoption of cryptocurrency and resilient outsourcing of technology providers.” The other aims to create “powers that can more quickly and easily seize-and-recover crypto assets,” which are the main medium for ransomware.
In April, the British government released a detailed plan to make the country a “hospitable place” for crypto.
