UK Government Reveals ‘Robust’ Plans to Regulate Crypto

The UK government has detailed “ambitious” plans to regulate the crypto industry, with proposals on tougher rules for trading platforms, crypto lending, new token issues and more. The goal, he says, is to protect consumers and businesses, while allowing “a new and exciting industry to thrive and grow safely,” he wrote in a Press release.

Last year saw the fall of FTX, Celsius and other crypto exchanges, as well as wildly fluctuating prices for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. As a result, critics in the UK have called for new rules that protect consumers from the “crypto wild-west”, as Tulip Siddiq of the opposition Labor Party put it. Put the.

The UK government plans to tighten rules governing the operation of crypto trading firms like FTX, as well as other financial intermediaries. The main goal, he writes, is to strengthen consumer protection and the ability of exchanges to weather storms. As part of this, he is proposing what he calls a “crypto market abuse regime” that would create rules on money laundering and other illegal schemes. It also plans to strengthen cryptocurrency lending laws.

At the same time, the Treasury Department is introducing a time-limited exemption that would allow designated crypto companies to issue new tokens. Companies registered with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for anti-money laundering purposes would be allowed to issue coins while the new regulations are drafted.

In January 2022, the British government promised a repression about misleading crypto ads, but that now seems odd given the tumultuous year that followed. At the time, the government estimated that around 2.3 million people in the country owned a crypto-asset.

Today’s proposal “consistent with the measure’s original policy intent to promote innovation, improve consumer protection and ensure that promotions of crypto-assets can be held to equivalent standards as those promotions of financial services products with similar risk profiles,” the government said. The consultation will close on April 30, 2023, when regulators will review the comments and formulate a response.

Comments are closed.