UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Revises Crypto-Based Business Registration Fee

Following a series of consultative forums with the virtual assets community, UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed that its revising crypto businesses registration fee upwards. The regulator has henceforth rolled on two distinct registration fees for crypto-based businesses according to their sizes AMBCrypto reports.

The regulator announced that enterprises with a net income of £250,000 from crypto assets activities will be levied a fee of £2,ooo. In addition, the regulator said that firms with more than £2,000 net income from crypto activities will have to pay £10,000 registration fee.

The revised registration fees requirements comes after a discussion of the proposals by the regulator that were released last year in October. Initially, the regulator had proposed a flat fee of £5,000 for all crypto-based businesses. The new fee structure was arrived at following protests from start-ups and smaller businesses.

The new fee structure from the regulator still raised some protests from the smaller businesses operating in the UK. However, the regulator has remained firm about the updated fee structure explaining that the agency is fully funded by the levies and fees it collects from the businesses it regulates. As per the press statement, the operation costs have increased in the last couple of years owing to the increased amount of work that the agency has to undertake while regulating the crypto-based businesses, hence the need to update the fees and levies upwards.

The regulator told off the protestors saying that anyone getting into business is aware that there are costs to be taken care of and it is normal for businesses to even anticipate losses in their nascent years.

Last month, the regulatory body announced that it is set to take up an enhanced mandate in regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country. The regulator also revealed that it will assume fresh supervisory mandate when it comes to virtual assets.

As per the press release, businesses already involved in crypto assets activities have until January next year to register with the regulator. Such businesses have to hand over completed registration applications before the end of June this year.