CryptoUK Response to FCA Consultation Paper 26/17
CryptoUK has submitted its response to the FCA’s quarterly consultation paper CP26/17. While the consultation is fairly technical in nature, it touches on two areas that matter directly for the industry: how authorised cryptoasset firms will be charged under the FCA’s fees framework, and how the financial promotions regime is operating in practice.
CryptoUK’s response supported the FCA’s proposal to use regulated income as the tariff base for the new A.26 fee-block, because it is a more proportionate way of charging firms than a flat activity-based model. We also asked the FCA to take account of smaller and early-stage firms through clearer guidance on how income should be reported, proportionate minimum fees, and a more graduated approach to authorisation application fees.
The response also supported the FCA’s proposal to remove the routine requirement for section 21 approvers to notify the FCA every time they approve a qualifying cryptoasset financial promotion, except in targeted circumstances. The FCA’s own evidence suggests that this blanket notification requirement is no longer adding much supervisory value, so removing it is a sensible step. More broadly, our response used this point to underline a wider issue members have raised for some time: tokenisation is a form of technology infrastructure, not an asset class with uniform risk characteristics. As the regime develops, the FCA should continue moving towards a more calibrated approach which reflects the economic function and consumer risk of different cryptoassets, rather than treating them all through the same default lens.
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