According to FinancialTimesthe United Kingdom is about to adopt a package of regulations aimed at better controlling the cryptocurrency market.
After several crypto crashes and different criminal cases involving the bosses of major companies in the sector since the beginning of the year, British lawmakers have, it seems, seen enough. At the same time calling into question what made the sector attractive for many: its lack of rules and its relative aloofness from governments.
Further protect UK investors
The few UK investors who have not yet jumped the crypto ship are going to have another opportunity to give it some serious thought. the FinancialTimes indeed reported, on Monday, the upcoming adoption of a set of regulations aimed at further controlling the cryptocurrency market and the various entities involved on its national territory. The first of these measures, as important as it is obvious, aims to give the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, British equivalent of the AMF) broader powers. It should now have the right to audit in detail the operation of cryptocurrency platforms as well as their advertising techniques.
The other key measure announced in the article concerns foreign companies offering cryptocurrency investments in the United Kingdom. The FCA will, after the adoption of these regulations, be able to restrict its activity on the UK market at its discretion. Finally, lawmakers across the country are also working on how to place crypto businesses into receivership more efficiently.
Measures expected, and anything but excessive
This package of regulations, which has the potential to at least partially revolutionize the British crypto asset market, remains relatively basic compared to what has already existed in the financial sector for a long time. If the repeated crises of the sector in 2022 probably accelerated the drafting, it seemed illusory to imagine that the sector would remain eternally a zone of lawlessness. And the necessary regulation of the sector has proven itself during its last collapses.
The FTX affair (an American company, of course, but the United Kingdom has had its national examples, such as Freeway) alone seems to justify all the measures mentioned. A thorough audit of the capabilities and operation of the company would have stopped much more quickly the obstinacy or the fraud, it is according to, of its founder. A control of advertising techniques would probably have limited the number of its victims. And more importantly, an effective liquidation would have allowed them not to lose all of their investments.
Sources: FinancialTimes, Reuters
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