Cummings Pepperdine on how to achieve FCA registration for cryptoasset business

The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017) are a wide-ranging set of regulations which form part of the UK’s AML and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regime.

Importantly for cryptoasset businesses, the MLRs 2017 apply to a wide range of businesses identified as most vulnerable to the risk of being used for money laundering and terrorist financing and this includes certain types of cryptoasset business.

The FCA supervises a wide range of financial institutions under the MLRs 2017. While some are financial institutions carry on “regulated activities”, others are do not carry on regulated activities but are in scope. This includes businesses which carry on the activities of being a cryptoasset exchange provider and/or a custodian wallet provider. Details of these activities are provided below.