Overview
- The Financial Conduct Authority published the final crypto framework on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 and set an application window from Sept. 30, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027 with the mandatory regime starting Oct. 25, 2027.
- All firms that serve UK customers — including trading platforms, custodians, staking providers, lending and borrowing services and certain DeFi operations with an identifiable controller — must obtain FCA authorisation before the October 2027 start date.
- The rules impose stronger resilience tests and market‑integrity controls: firms must hold capital buffers, design and submit annual stress tests, follow new insider‑trading and market‑manipulation rules, and larger platforms must share surveillance data and publish asset disclosures to an FCA repository.
- Stablecoin issuers face tailored safeguards after industry feedback: the capital coefficient was cut from 2% to 1% of issued value, cash backing must sit in a statutory trust, issuers may hold up to a 5% excess in reserves, and the obligation to forecast redemptions was removed.
- Existing anti‑money‑laundering registrations will not convert automatically so firms must reapply, and regulators say the regime aims to balance consumer protection with competitiveness as the UK positions itself alongside the EU and US in global crypto rulemaking.