The UK Financial Conduct Authority Issues Final Guidance On Cryptoassets

On 31 July 2019 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its final guidance on cryptoassets (the Guidance) following its consultation on draft guidance earlier in the year. Here we summarise and assess the key components of the Guidance.

The Guidance and the UK Regulatory Regime

The Guidance is relevant to a range of businesses including:

• issuers and creators of cryptoassets;
• firms marketing cyrptoasset products and services, and buying and selling cryptoassets;
• firms holding and storing cryptoassets;
• investment managers; and
• investment exchanges and trading facilities.

The Guidance is designed to enable market participants to understand whether certain cryptoassets are within the regulatory perimeter or fall outside regulation, and consequently to determine whether they need to be authorised by the FCA and what rules or regulations apply to their business. An activity relating to cryptoassets which does fall within the regulatory