Crypto businesses that want to keep operating in the U.K. now have five months to file an application. On Wednesday the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened its “authorization gateway”, and firms must register before the end of February 2027.
That is not much time, considering how long the regime took to arrive. Work on the legislation began back in 2022.
Years of trailing the EU
For a long stretch, Britain seemed to be moving slowly. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Asset (MiCA) Regulation took effect in June 2023. At roughly the same point, the U.K.’s own Act of Parliament on the subject was only just becoming law.
Things picked up late last year. Regulators said then that the FCA’s framework would come into effect in October 2027, and that a licensing application window would open ahead of that date.
The window has now opened, and the deadline is close.
A head start for some firms
Some applicants won’t be starting from scratch. Firms already registered under the FCA’s existing regime, which dealt mostly with anti-money laundering, may find that a lot of the hard work is behind them. At least, that’s the theory.
More than 60 companies are in that position. One of them is Zumo, an Edinburgh-based crypto infrastructure platform that was registered in 2021.
One operator mapped the rulebook itself
Zumo has put together what it calls a “U.K Cryptoasset Regulation Tracker.” The tool explains what the rules will ask of firms and sets out the timelines for regulatory milestones.
Zumo says the difference is that it runs a business under these rules instead of advising on them. “Everyone else publishing a traceker is a law firm or consultancy. We’re developing ours as industry operators,” Nick Jones, Zumo’s founder and CEO, said in an emailed announcement on Wednesday.
Jones said the project went into fine detail. “Building it has meant reading the regime rules right down to the level of every individual obligation, mapping each one to the regulated activity it attaches to, and keeping that mapping current as further papers land.”
The end of that quote is the important part. The FCA is still releasing papers, so the rules firms are applying under could change while the window is open.
If your firm is one of the more than 60 already registered under the anti-money laundering regime, don’t assume that registration covers you. Treat it as a starting point, check it against the new obligations and apply well before February 2027. The October 2027 date won’t be pushed back because your paperwork came in late.