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UK financial watchdog warns consumers over CoinBurp crypto launch

Published 25/07/2021, 11:15
Updated 25/07/2021, 14:25
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -Crypto broker CoinBurp is not fully authorised before Monday's planned launch of its $BURP token and initial exchange offering, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Sunday, in its latest crack down on crypto trading.

But the FCA said CoinBurp could start business under its temporary registration, provided it had the correct controls in place.

CoinBurp said last week it had raised $6 million to build a platform to buy and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital assets that are attracting interest from some investors and scrutiny from regulators worried about the risks.

CoinBurp, which says on its website "$BURP is coming!", said it would issue a full statement later.

The FCA said in its statement: "The firm does not yet hold full FCA registration under the money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds (information on the payer) regulations ... but has submitted an application for the FCA for registration."

Although CoinBurp is listed on the FCA's temporary registration register, this does not allow any firm to claim to be registered or authorised by the FCA, the watchdog said.

"Whilst firms with this status can continue to trade, such firms and their personnel have not yet been assessed as fit and proper, and we have not yet determined their application for the purposes of the money laundering regulations," the FCA said.

"Building this product means that CoinBurp - as a regulated broker - will have NFTs listed on the market and can be made available for investors in large and small quantities," it said in a press statement on Friday.

The FCA statement is the latest in the watchdog's warnings to consumers they could lose all their money in crypto assets.

In June, the FCA said Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, could not conduct any regulated activity and issued a warning to consumers about the platform, which has since come under growing regulatory scrutiny globally.

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