UK's FCA Increases Registration Fee For Crypto Businesses To £10000

Assisting the regulatory change was the feedback from crypto industry located in the UK. During a consultation in October, smaller companies raised objections on FCA's first proposed £5,000 fees. This opposition resulted in Monday's amendments. 

FCA Identified 80 Potential Applicants

In October, FCA stated it was aware of about 80 potential applicants and estimated an approximate amount of £400,000 as a total cost of this process, for which, the registration fee was set to £5,000.

Although the agency was ready to provide smaller companies with an opportunity, the agency wanted to make up the money somewhere, which resulted in a disproportionately high increase for more significant cryptocurrency companies.

Last month, some reports cited that FCA would be taking a more significant role in the regulation of the crypto industry moving forward. It would be leading initiatives which would stop terrorist financing and money laundering using crypto assets under The Economic Crime Plan 2019-22. 

Also, FCA insisted all firms which had been working in the crypto industry to register with it. The agency has placed a deadline of January 2021, according to which, companies would have to submit applications till June 2020.

The Change Is A Portion Of 5AMLD

The change in regulation was a part of a more extensive European crackdown against money laundering. The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) of EU expanded so that the existing money laundering regulations could cover crypto service providers. Some earlier report cited the regulatory changes seemed established to impact how the biggest companies do business in the industry.

Earlier this year, Deribit, a bitcoin exchange platform, declared it would withdraw from Europe, mentioning the regulatory changes. The likes of OKEx and Binance, both based in the European nation of Malta, would also likely follow suit, or be forced to change their existing operations significantly.