The first business to sign up for the Financial Conduct Authority’s 2024 cryptocurrency register is the U.K. subsidiary of payments infrastructure firm Banxa (BNXA), which made the announcement on Friday.
Adding BNXA UK VASP to the regulator’s list enables it to offer cryptocurrency services to customers in the United Kingdom. Brinda Paul, general manager of the company, has a LinkedIn page that states that she held the position of director of compliance at Banxa, an Australian company situated in Melbourne whose shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, until February. Banxa processes transactions and identification verification for users of cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX and Binance, none of which has FCA crypto clearance.
Companies must either register with the FCA or have their promotions certified by an authorised firm in order to offer promotions to clients in the United Kingdom. However, registration does not immediately grant businesses the authority to ratify promotions from other businesses. In response to the regulations, a few unregistered businesses had to stop providing services to certain clientele. For instance, Binance chose not to take on any more U.K. clients and has had difficulties locating suitable companies to authorise its advertisements.
At press time, Banxa had not answered a request for comment.