Bittrex Global CEO Says FCA Is Hurting Companies

However, it appears that they moved too quickly in a few months, and some firms have suspended their services or left the UK market due to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) strict marketing rules.

Bittrex Global CEO Oliver Linch said in an interview: “For certain crypto players, the FCA’s rather stringent marketing rules are acting as a deterrent and a potential reason to leave the jurisdiction.”

“However, the best way to do that is by forming a legal framework that is comprehensible enough for the market to remain compliant with, and explicit enough for the regulator, in this case, the FCA, to enforce.”

Linch is a former Shearman & Sterling lawyer with over a decade of experience in regulatory policy decoding and drafting, particularly in the financial regulation space. He is also the former General Counsel and current CEO of Bittrex Global, which announced in November that it would be closing its US exchange due to its own regulatory issues and falling market share.

Strict Advertising Rules (Bittrex Global)

The UK’s FCA set and -regulated new crypto advertising rules came into effect on October 8th last year and have caused challenges for some crypto firms.

The new rules, which also include a cooling-off period for first-time investors, were put in place in the hope of making the marketing of crypto products more transparent and accurate. However, some firms found them too burdensome, while others turned to third parties.

Fintech firm Revolut suspended crypto trading for businesses in the UK earlier this month “to give more time to comply with the new requirements set out by the Financial Conduct Authority in October.”

PayPal announced last year that it would be temporarily pausing crypto purchases in the UK until early 2024, and crypto exchange Bybit left the UK in October due to the rule change.

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