Share this article
UK's FCA Flagged Some Crypto Firms Seeking Regulatory Approval to Law Enforcement
A number of those investigations into financial crime or "direct links to organized crime" are ongoing, an official at the Financial Conduct Authority said.
Updated Jan 27, 2023, 4:49 p.m. Published Jan 27, 2023, 11:53 a.m.
The U.K.'s financial regulator referred some crypto companies that tried to register with it to law enforcement agencies, an official at the agency said in a letter published on Thursday.
"Overall, in the small number of cases where we have identified likely financial crime or direct links to organized crime we have referred these to law enforcement agencies," Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets supervision, policy and competition at the Financial Conduct Authority, said in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee dated Jan. 19. "Some of those law enforcement investigations remain ongoing."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
On Wednesday, the regulator said it had received 300 applications from crypto companies seeking approval to serve customers in the country under its anti-money laundering regime. Only 41 companies managed to register with the regulator while 195 companies were either refused or withdrew their application, the FCA said. Of the 300 applicants, 29 were rejected for failing to meet the FCA's requirements for approval.
Although the regulator has faced criticism for taking a tough stance on crypto, he deemed it necessary, FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi said in a meeting last November.
"The FCA took a robust position during authorization so that the risk of criminality was significantly reduced, thus the high rejection rate," Pritchard said in the letter.
The U.K. has been increasing its efforts to regulate crypto. The police has stationed crypto tactical advisors across the nation. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill being debated in Parliament will give law enforcement agencies more power to seize and freeze crypto used in criminal activities, while the Financial Services and Markets Bill could expand the FCA's own powers to police the industry.
The FCA declined to reveal how many crypto companies it had referred to law enforcement agencies.
Read more: UK’s FCA Issues Advice for Crypto Firms After Only 41 of 300 Applicants Win Regulatory Approval
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
CFTC Gives No-Action Leeway to Polymarket, Gemini, PredictIt, LedgerX Over Data Rules
The CFTC granted the operators of Polymarket, PredictIt, Gemini and LedgerX permission to skip certain recordkeeping requirements.
What to know:
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted several prediction-market firms certain regulatory leeway in meeting derivatives rules, suggesting they won't get into enforcement trouble if they do business as intended.
- The no-action letters went to Polymarket, PredictIt, Gemini and LedgerX/MIAX.
Top Stories
