UK's FCA Flagged Some Crypto Firms Seeking Regulatory Approval to Law Enforcement
A number of those investigations into financial crime or "direct links to organized crime" are ongoing, an official at the Financial Conduct Authority said.
The U.K.'s financial regulator referred some crypto companies that tried to register with it to law enforcement agencies, an official at the agency said in a letter published on Thursday.
"Overall, in the small number of cases where we have identified likely financial crime or direct links to organized crime we have referred these to law enforcement agencies," Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets supervision, policy and competition at the Financial Conduct Authority, said in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee dated Jan. 19. "Some of those law enforcement investigations remain ongoing."
On Wednesday, the regulator said it had received 300 applications from crypto companies seeking approval to serve customers in the country under its anti-money laundering regime. Only 41 companies managed to register with the regulator while 195 companies were either refused or withdrew their application, the FCA said. Of the 300 applicants, 29 were rejected for failing to meet the FCA's requirements for approval.
Although the regulator has faced criticism for taking a tough stance on crypto, he deemed it necessary, FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi said in a meeting last November.
"The FCA took a robust position during authorization so that the risk of criminality was significantly reduced, thus the high rejection rate," Pritchard said in the letter.
The U.K. has been increasing its efforts to regulate crypto. The police has stationed crypto tactical advisors across the nation. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill being debated in Parliament will give law enforcement agencies more power to seize and freeze crypto used in criminal activities, while the Financial Services and Markets Bill could expand the FCA's own powers to police the industry.
The FCA declined to reveal how many crypto companies it had referred to law enforcement agencies.
Read more: UK’s FCA Issues Advice for Crypto Firms After Only 41 of 300 Applicants Win Regulatory Approval
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
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Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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