NFT Issuers in the UK Need to Accept Licenses Under New Regulatory Plan

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Crypto businesses issuing Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in the UK will need to register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) even though the UK government has introduced a new authorization regime for the industry.

Reporting from Coinmarketcap, Monday (18/3/2024), this is according to a consultation on money laundering issued by the Ministry of Finance on Monday, 11 March 2024.

The consultation suggests NFTs, which are unique digital assets stored on the blockchain and can be used to represent ownership of assets such as art, real estate, digital collectibles and others, may not be included in the new regime.

Currently, crypto financial service providers must be registered with the FCA to operate in the UK. However, once the new regime takes effect, this will no longer be necessary. The UK government is seeking a response to the proposed regime until 9 June 2024.

Need to be Supervised

The consultation states crypto companies that do not provide regulated financial services, such as NFT issuers, will still need to be registered and supervised by the FCA for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing purposes.

This is because NFTs are not considered financial instruments under the Financial Services and Markets Law passed last year. In a consultation response in October, the government said that NFTs were not suitable for regulation as a financial service.