Law & Policy

The UK’s FCA has approved Coinbase’s VASP registration! Certainly a change of tune from July last year when the FCA fined a Coinbase sub-org £3m… 🧵

Tech policy and regulation analyst. Interested in crypto and its regulation.

Certainly a shift from the FCA’s £3m fine on CBPL (a part of the Coinbase group) for failing to comply with financial crime prevention restrictions. The CBPL was not undertaking cryptoasset transactions, but it was acting as an e-money gateway for customers to trade these assets via other Coinbase group entities.

What is interesting here is that CPBL’s activity was an important part of Coinbase’s UK ecosystem – this new approval will allow Coinbase to open up its ecosystem to UK users SIGNIFICANTLY more than in the past. Definite political or regulatory shift

My read of it is that this could be a result of the UK Government’s political focus on “growth” and particularly, pro-growth regulation from bodies like the FCA

The Government is desperate for investment and growth and allowing a major financial player like Coinbase fully enter the UK markets is likely to attract investment and maybe even create some jobs if Coinbase sets up more in London

This registration makes Coinbase the largest registered VASP in the UK, a huge market entrant! Feels unlikely that the FCA would approve this if they did not have clear, refined plans of how to regulate a major player like Coinbase and the rest of the crypto sphere. So might well be an indication that regulation or new measures for the market are on the horizon