FCA says crypto firms undeterred

On Thursday, the Financial Conduct Authority said that companies were undeterred by initial failure to obtain licences to operate in Britain and were submitting new applications.

The FCA has been criticised by lawmakers and the sector for being slow in processing licence applications and rejecting swathes of applications despite the UK government's push to make London a global criptocurrency hub.

Many crypto firms are still trying to get licences here in the UK even though some have been denied the licenses at the first pass, said Sheldon Mills, FCA executive director for competition and consumers at City Financial.

Mills said that they know they have a good system of regulation and that's important for every jurisdiction that they apply for around the world, and that's why they know they have a good system of regulation.

That is a benefit to the UK economy and UK financial service industry and is good for competition, inward investment and growth. The FCA is scrutinising firms for their ability to stop their operations from being used for money laundering or financing terrorism.

In March, the FCA said that 90 per cent of the firms seeking approval for their anti-money laundering controls have been refused or withdrawn because they could not meet the standards.

Mills said 95 people have been hired to the watchdog's authorisations team and the pending caseload has fallen by 40 per cent.

Mills said that we expect faster, better decisions to support us in bringing down the costs of the regulatory system over time.

Jean-Marie Mognetti, chief executive of CoinShares, said the company decided to list in the European Union member state of Sweden because Britain and the FCA were not very keen to see any companies in London.

Mognetti said the EU's new set of MiCA' rules for fully licensing criptos will put the EU at an advantage over Britain.

If you talk about attractiveness from a regulated activity perspective, you know that London is not part of MiCA and will not have passporting in Europe. It's going to be a big handicap, Mognetti said.

Britain will license stablecoins, but leave the rest of the industry for a later date, because of a draft law now before parliament.