Podcast Plus: Crypto under the FCA – Special edition - Authorisation - Global Regulation Tomorrow

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has moved into a more formal phase of cryptoasset oversight, with authorisation emerging as a central theme in its approach to the sector. Under the existing regime, firms providing certain crypto services in the UK must be registered with the FCA for anti-money-laundering purposes, while broader regulatory permissions are being phased in for activities such as operating a trading venue or dealing as principal.

Authorisation matters because it determines which firms can legally serve UK customers and under what conditions. The FCA has signalled that it expects robust systems and controls, clear disclosures of risk, and evidence that firms can meet ongoing supervisory standards. For firms, the process can be resource-intensive; for customers, it affects the pool of providers they can access.

What to watch next is how the FCA sequences its authorisation gateway, how it treats firms already operating under temporary permissions, and how its approach interacts with regimes elsewhere. The direction is toward a more defined perimeter, even as the detail continues to take shape.