BitMEX follow-up impact, UK strengthens supervision of cryptocurrency exchanges

Source: Shallot Blockchain

The Financial Market Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a statement regarding BitMEX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. The FCA says BitMEX has been targeting British investors but has not been authorized. Although it did not explicitly accuse BitMEX of any fraudulent or suspicious activity, the statement did mention that companies that provide financial services without proper permission may actually be a scam.

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The FCA said: "BitMEX has not been authorized by us and has been targeting British investors. Based on the information we have, we believe that it is conducting regulated activities and requires our authorization." In this regard, a BitMEX spokesperson said, " We are working closely with our consultants to assess the situation. We can do nothing at this time. "

Kraken also under investigation

The FCA issued a similar warning on cryptocurrency exchange Kraken on Tuesday, but it was later deleted. According to theBlock, the notification was an FCA error and Kraken's compliance team is investigating the matter with the FCA.

FCA has yet to comment on the matter.

However, it is worth noting that according to the regulator's website, the futures trading platform Crypto Facilities acquired by Kraken is being regulated by the FCA.

UK regulation further strengthened?

According to TheBlock, sources have revealed that the FCA may issue similar warnings against more cryptocurrency exchanges. Sources said exchanges such as Deribit, CoinFLEX and Bybit could be the next.

A search on the FCA website did not show that the three exchanges were registered. Deribit CEO John Jansen said the exchange was not actively seeking customers in the UK and was not actively promoting its services in the UK, so "there is no problem at all."

"To actively provide Deribit services in any other country in the European Union, it also needs to be registered or regulated with the relevant authorities. More precisely, Deribit needs to do so in every country actively seeking customers. Therefore, Deribit does There is no registration with every agency in the EU, but just no active engagement with or business with EU potential customers, "Jansen added.

As for the FCA warning, Jansen said it was to make citizens aware of irregular exchanges. He reiterated: "This is nothing special, as long as the irregular exchanges are not actively promoted or operated in the UK, there will be no problems."

It is worth noting that Deribit is not currently serving in the United States. When asked why the exchange has not blocked UK customers, Jansen said "not needed" because US, UK and EU laws differ.

"U.S. regulations are more stringent because their law states that 'accepting U.S. customers on non-regulated platforms' can be considered a crime. In contrast, in the UK or the EU, it simply states that it is not allowed to promote or operate the platform on its territory, This is allowed if the EU or UK citizen seeks a transaction on Deribit, as long as we do not actively persuade him to do so / actively promote the platform in the EU or UK, "Jansen added.

Two other exchanges, CoinFLEX and Bybit, have yet to respond to this.

Last month, the FCA became the regulator of crypto activities in the UK. Therefore, all existing and new cryptocurrency related companies must be registered by the regulator. The deadline for registration of existing companies is January 2021.

Translated from: theblockcrypto (https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/57838/bitmex-not-authorized-to-operate-in-uk-says-it-is-working-to-assess-the-situation)

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