On January 23, 2019, the financial regulatory body of the United Kingdom named Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consultation paper “Guidance on Cryptoassets”.

This paper on digital assets aims to provide better understanding on the subject for market players. The paper informs that consultation period on crypto assets will last up to April 5, 2019, and then a policy statement with the final guidance will be released.

The final version of the document will reportedly help market players to understand whether digital assets they use are within the regulatory framework or not. FCA explained:

“This will alert market participants to pertinent issues and should help them better understand whether they need to be authorized and what rules or regulations apply to their business.”

In the consultation paper, FCA gives various possible definitions of crypto assets and corresponding laws of UK. The regulatory body outlines that digital assets could be considered “Specified Investments” or “Financial Instruments”, while cryptocurrencies can be put into three various categories – exchange tokens, security tokens and utility tokens. Digital assets could be regulated by the E-Money Regulations or Payment Services Regulations, by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, or by the Regulated Activities Order, financial regulator reported.

Author: Helen Darkhouse