Proactive Investors - Britain’s finance watchdog wasted no time exercising its newly vested powers under the crypto marketing regime that came into force on Sunday.
A total of 146 alerts were issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) against crypto companies not registered with the regulator.
Most alerts came with the following warning: “This firm may be providing or promoting financial services or products without our permission. You should avoid dealing with this firm and beware of scams.”
Under the new laws, firms wishing to promote cryptoassets in the UK must, by law, be authorised or registered by the FCA, or have their marketing approved by an authorised firm.
Promotions must also be “clear, fair and not misleading, labelled with prominent risk warnings and must not inappropriately incentivise people to invest”.
The financial promotion regime applies to all firms marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers, regardless of whether the firm is based overseas or what technology is used to make the promotion.
KuCoin, the sixth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes globally, was the most noticeable name added to the list.
“This firm is not authorised by us and may be targeting people in the UK,” warned the FCA.
Huobi, another prominent exchange run by Tron founder Justin Sun, was also named.
Other companies flagged went by names like ‘Globalfxvitaltrade’, ‘Superfxrapidtrade’, ‘Hodlergroupfx’ and ‘CRYPTOAIRDROPS’.
Huobi denied operating or marketing its services in the UK.
KuCoin’s chief executive Johnny Lyu told Bloomberg that KuCoin does not operate in the UK, but aims to “ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations in each country to the extent possible”.