UK MPs Call for Improved Crypto Regulations to Prevent Losses

Ministers of the UK Parliament are calling for more rigid cryptocurrency regulations from the ASA, the FCA, and the Treasury in order to protect investors.

Parliament members and other campaigners have called for more regulation of crypto assets to prevent losses due to crypto-related crime. They are also asking for cryptocurrencies to be included in the 2005 Gambling Act’s upcoming government review.

In the UK, crypto assets are currently subject to very few laws. However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has called out the major UK football team Arsenal FC and Floki Inu for their advertisements. 

Arsenal FC was questioned for advertising fan tokens which meant that owners had a say in particular decisions of the club. NFTs that are promoted by prominent football players like John Terry and Wayne Rooney have been raising concerns as consumers have lost money.

A Labour Party politician, Matt Zorb-Cousin, who was the former aide to Jeremy Corbyn, said, “It’s one thing for football clubs to market gambling to fans, which could lead to people destroying their lives a consequence, but I think it’s on another level, it’s even worse to be offering a way into cryptocurrency through the pretense of empowering them in an effectively unregulated are.”

The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, currently regulates cryptocurrency only in the cases where anti-money laundering or terrorism financing laws are breached. Now, the FCA is hoping to gain more authority in terms of regulating the crypto sector.

“At the FCA, we have repeatedly warned about the risks of holding speculative tokens. To be clear: these tokens are not regulated by the FCA,” said Charles Randall, chair of the FCA in a speech to the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic crime in September 2021. 

He also added that the FCA does not hope to impose Draconian regulations since their aim is mainly to prevent criminal activity and protect crypto investors. Recently, the FCA approved a crypto exchange Coinpass to operate as a digital asset company.

Suggested read: Cryptocurrencies marked as top AML and CFT Priority by FinCEN