FCA Guidance Lands Two Weeks Before UK Crypto Authorization Window Opens

In brief

• Crypto firms can apply for UK authorization from September 30 to February 28, 2027, ahead of the regime taking effect on October 25, 2027.
• Overseas firms dealing, arranging or safeguarding for UK retail customers are caught, with no overseas persons exclusion available.
• Missing the February deadline costs firms the transitional cover that lets them keep operating while their application is assessed.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has told crypto firms how its incoming rulebook applies to them, publishing perimeter guidance on Wednesday, two weeks before applications for authorization open.

The guidance covers issuing qualifying stablecoins, running trading platforms, dealing and arranging deals, safeguarding cryptoassets and arranging staking, and sets out which activities need FCA approval. The application window runs from September 30 to February 28, 2027, and the regime itself takes effect on October 25, 2027.

"This guidance gives firms the clarity they've asked for so they can prepare with confidence," said David Geale, the FCA's executive director of consumers, payments and competition.

A wide catchment area

The rules reach well beyond British-based companies. Parliament extended its territorial scope so that overseas firms dealing with, arranging for or safeguarding cryptoassets for UK retail consumers count as carrying on business in the UK, said Michelle Kirschner, a partner at Gibson Dunn, and the overseas persons exclusion that firms normally rely on "is simply not available for these activities."