New FCA Chair Takes Harsh Stance on Cryptocurrency Risks in UK

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) recently appointed chair has presented an unfriendly attitude toward cryptocurrencies in a cross-party Treasury select committee meeting.

Ashley Alder, who will assume control of the FCA in February, told Treasury members on Dec. 14 that cryptocurrency-related businesses were “deliberately evasive” and suggested the sector facilitated money laundering.

According to a report from Financial Times, the current chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission highlighted his belief that the cryptocurrency ecosystem creates risk that requires further regulation from government:

“Our experience to date of [crypto] platforms, whether FTX or others, is that they are deliberately evasive, they are a method by which money laundering happens in size.”

Alder also added that the cryptocurrency sector bundles “a whole set of activities which are normally segregated’ which leads to ‘massively untoward risk.”

Regulatory Environment Gap

The incoming FCA chair’s comments are seemingly at odds with the regulatory body’s efforts to provide a fostering environment for the cryptocurrency industry in the United Kingdom.

The institution told Cointelegraph earlier this year that its oversight was largely limited to registering locally-based cryptocurrency exchanges for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) purposes. There are currently 41 exchanges listed on the FCA’s registered crypto asset roster.

Future Regulatory Changes

The U.K. Treasury is now looking to formulate new regulatory rules for the cryptocurrency industry, which could include limits on the amount that foreign companies can sell into the country. This move has largely been driven by the collapse of FTX in November.

The FCA is also set to be tasked with monitoring operations and advertising of cryptocurrency businesses as part of the proposed regulatory changes.