Brexit’s Surprising Side-Effect: Stiffer Bitcoin Regulations
By CCN: The prolonged process for withdrawing from the European Union may have resulted in great uncertainty, but the UK’s financial watchdog is sure about what it wants post-Brexit – more muscle to oversee bitcoin and the crypto industry at large.
According to the Financial Conduct Authority’s business plan for 2019/2020, the regulator will urge Her Majesty’s Treasury to boost its enforcement powers in the crypto sector ahead of Brexit. Per FCA’s chief executive, Andrew Bailey, UK’s EU withdrawal is the body’s most pressing and urgent challenge.
Andrew Bailey on our Business Plan 2019/20 https://t.co/4Juptx0QcY pic.twitter.com/d5guGsyJtV
— FCA (@TheFCA) April 17, 2019
The financial watchdog intends to first hold public consultation first, though, before its enforcement powers can be increased:
“Following our consultation on cryptoassets we will publish a Feedback Statement and finalised Perimeter Guidance. We will also provide technical advice to the Treasury on extending the perimeter for utility and exchange tokens and on extending our financial crime provisions to certain activities related to cryptoassets.”
Is FCA Too Eager to Regulate Bitcoin?
The FCA’s research agenda for 2019/2020 will also touch on the technology underpinning cryptoassets – blockchain. Per the FCA, distributed ledger technology is evolving so fast that there is a need to identify its potential benefits and risks with a view of shaping “regulatory interventions.”
Some of the potential risks identified by the FCA include anonymous transactions being used to commit financial crimes. Additionally, the FCA has expressed worries that quantum computing could impact the security of cryptocurrency networks.
