Crypto.com secures UK registration for ‘cryptoasset activities’

As defined by the FCA, “cryptoasset activity” includes anything that involves exchanging one crypto for another or exchanging crypto for fiat and vice versa.

Digital asset exchange Crypto.com has just been given the green-light for “certain cryptoasset activities” in the United Kingdom, after receiving registration confirmation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Tuesday.

According to an Aug. 16 entry in the FCA’s Financial Services Register, ‘FORIS DAX UK LIMITED’ has been registered to conduct “certain cryptoasset activities”, whilst also obtaining Money Laundering Regulation Status.

FORIS DAX UK LIMITED is listed as the registered UK trading name for Crypto.com.

Details on the registration are scarce at the time of writing and Crypto.com and the FCA are yet to comment on it, however, the FCA website suggests that businesses carrying on crypto asset activity in the UK must register to be compliant with money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds regulations.

As defined by the FCA, crypto asset activity includes exchanging crypto assets for money or money for crypto assets, or automating a machine to do so, and exchanging crypto assets for crypto assets.

On the other hand, the FCA has also compiled a list of 248 UK businesses that appear to be carrying on crypto asset activity that is not registered with the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes.

Existing businesses in the UK were required to be registered with the FCA by 9 January 2021 in order to continue carrying on their business, with businesses that have applied but are still having their applications processed being granted temporary registration.

The FCA has enforcement powers allowing it to investigate and impose financial penalties on companies that are not in compliance.

Crypto.com, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange that operates globally with over 50 million users, has been pursuing regulatory milestones at breakneck speed as of late.

The registration in the UK follows preregistration filings for crypto trading platforms seeking regulatory approval in Canada on Monday and approval as a Virtual Asset Service Provider in the Cayman islands on August 11.

On August 8 the exchange also obtained Virtual Asset Service Provider and Electronic Financial Transaction Act registration in South Korea following the acquisition of payment service provider ‘PnLink Co., Ltd.’, and virtual asset service provider ‘OK-BIT Co., Ltd.’.

With these and other additional regulatory milestones, Crypto.com appears to be pushing to be regarded as a secure and trustworthy exchange within the digital asset market, and its CEO Kris Marszalek has been outspoken regarding their progress.

https://t.co/pFc4Pz9nFR continues building on a strong foundation of regulatory compliance, providing a safe and trusted platform to Canadian crypto community 🇨🇦 https://t.co/yzWEp8r9f2

— Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) August 15, 2022

“We believe the Binance Card is a significant step in encouraging wider crypto use and global adoption and now it is available for users from Argentina,” general director of Binance in Latin America Maximiliano Hinz said in the announcement.

Argentina will be the first country in Latin America to have the card, which is right now in beta mode and will be widely available in the coming weeks. The announcement added that users will not get charged on ATM withdrawals either.

Crypto is gaining traction in Argentina: blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis last year ranked the country among the top 10 crypto adopters worldwide.

And Bitcoin isn’t the only digital asset that is popular. Stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies, like the U.S. dollar—are also finding a use case. Just last week, Argentinian football team Banfield received $6 million in USDC, the second biggest stablecoin by market cap, as payment for a player from Brazilian club Sao Paulo.

The Argentine government is worried about capital flight as the pesos loses value, so last month introduced new measures focused on crypto: the central bank said that those who have bought Bitcoin or any other digital asset in the past 90 days with pesos would not be able to access the single free exchange market and buy U.S. dollars at the official rate.

Binance’s new debit card could well help crypto traders get around these new measures. A crypto trader in Argentina could, theoretically, use their Binance account to gain access to U.S.-dollar equivalents in the form of USDC or USDT stablecoins and spend those funds with the card—all without the need for a bank account or access to the official exchange market.

Argentina right now suffers from one of the worst inflation rates in the world—currently 64%. This makes everyday life difficult for Argentinians; spending can get complicated as most people use U.S. dollars and there are two exchange rates—an official one and black market one. Crypto may be a better bet for some.

Binance already has a crypto Visa debit card: it launched it last year and it lets Binance users convert their cryptocurrency holdings into fiat at the point of sale.

Source:decrypt.co