The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is at the final stage of its consultation on a comprehensive set of cryptoasset rules. The UK FCA is seeking feedback from the industry on ten key proposals ahead of the deadline of 12 March 2026. This is the final milestone of a roadmap that started in December, when the regulator announced its plan to bring digital asset standards in line with those of traditional finance.
The consultation encompasses almost all of the market activities. Other aspects cover staff training and competence, the role of senior managers, as well as firms’ location policies. The UK FCA, by generalising the existing conduct, reporting, and governance frameworks to crypto, intends to offer a similar environment for securities and payments firms. This prevents one of them from having an unfair advantage over the other, while at the same time maintaining business model innovation.
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The regulator emphasises that regulation will not eliminate all risks; however, investors should be helped to understand their exposure through regulation. Specifically, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme will not cover losses arising from crypto asset investments, which means customers are still responsible for the investment risk.
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The UK FCA has indicated that the crypto asset service providers’ authorisation gateway will be opened in September 2026, after which the firms will be required to have full FCA permission to operate in the UK. Current Anti-Money Laundering (AML) registered entities will have to comply with the new licensing regime, while the already authorised firms will have to change their permissions to cover their crypto activities.
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