The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, has added crypto-friendly payment app Revolut to the list of companies allowed to offer crypto products and services in the country.
In an update on Monday to the list of UK-registered crypto asset firms, the FCA revealed that Revolut complies with revised regulations from 2017 on “money laundering, terrorist financing and money laundering”. The fintech company joins 37 other companies that have received the green light after being granted an extension to operate as a crypto asset firm with provisional registration in March.
Firms offering crypto-related products and services in the UK will be allowed to operate after registering with the FCA, with legislation in place from 2020. However, under the country’s Anti-Money Laundering, or AML and Countering Terrorism or CFT requirements, many companies, including Revolut, have been granted temporary registration status, allowing them to operate while seemingly maintaining full compliance.
At the time of publication, there were still no crypto asset firms operating under FCA provisional status. Revolut was the last of the 12 companies granted provisional registration in early March.
A Sept. 5 report from the Financial Times suggests the UK’s Financial Reporting Council found deficiencies in Revolut’s audit, including an “unacceptably high” risk of “material misstatement.” As of July 31, Revolut is valued as a $33 billion fintech company following an $800 million investment round.
Related: The FCA highlights its limited role as unregistered businesses continue to operate
There has been major political upheaval in the United Kingdom following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the replacement of Boris Johnson by Prime Minister Liz Truss. Government lawmakers on September 22 introduced the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act – a law aimed at empowering the country’s National Crime Agency to “seize, freeze and recover” crypto assets. However, Richard Fuller, Economic Correspondent of Truss, spoke of making the UK a “major center for crypto technologies”.