It took UK regulator ‘25 years’ to assess all crypto applications
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken the equivalent of 25 years to process incoming crypto applications, according to a freedom of information request (FOI). It has also been reported that the number of crypto firms registering with the FCA has fallen by 51% in the past three years and that 186 have withdrawn their applications to the financial regulator. This has raised concerns about whether the lengthy timescales are forcing crypto asset firms to look elsewhere for a place to do business. According to the Financial Times, the FOI submitted by the Law firm Reed Smith revealed that assessing a crypto application took the FCA an average of 459 days . The number of submitted applications dropped to 29 between May 2023 and April 2024, down from 42 and 59 in the two years prior. Only seven applications were made in the first quarter of 2024. UK’s first crypto ATM charge claims phone shop owner laundered $400K Read more: FCA tackles ‘operational backlog’ with ...