, which brings crypto-assets under the UK’s broader financial regulatory regime contained in the U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 , including FSMA’s rules on financial promotions, it is now all but inevitable that the FCA’s new rules – or ones very close to them – will be entering into force on schedule on or about October 8.This is the culmination of a yearslong effort in the U.K. government to create new rules to govern cryptocurrency business within its borders.
, too. Given that penalties for noncompliance include fines and potential imprisonment, strict adherence to the rules is a must.What does this mean? Unlike in the U.S., and news stories saying “crypto is now a regulated activity,” cryptocurrency itself has not been redesignated as a regulated product.
The types of marketing covered by the financial promotion regime could include not only marketing in a formal sense like a television advertisement or an investment memorandum, but also less formal communications where cryptocurrency companies usually market their protocols such as podcasts, hackathons, conference events, and meetups, or online banner ads and Tweets. The new regime also includes communications to high-net-worth and sophisticated investors.