The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning that Retardio, a grossly offensive Solana-based memecoin and NFT project, “is not authorised” by the regulator. 

Retardio responded by posting a meme that depicts Jeff Bezos in clown makeup. 

It appears that the token has no reason to exist except to allow a contingent of Solana-based cryptocurrency traders an asset on which to speculate.

Following the announcement from the FCA, the token’s price was buoyed, according to data from DexScreener. The total market capitalization for the project has again breached $100 million.

The FCA has been trying to focus more on crypto, asking today for industry feedback on its new discussion paper looking at regulations for the space. 

Read more: TikTok accused of operating as crypto exchange in the UK, report

Additionally, the FCA has grown its cryptocurrency-focused staff this year. Its number has now reportedly reached triple digits and its fastest-growing team is the the policy team. 

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post Retardio memecoin ‘not authorised’ by UK FCA appeared first on Protos.

The UK has banned memecoin platform Pump Fun after the country’s financial watchdog added it to its warning list.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the warning on December 3, saying, “[Pump Fun] may be providing or promoting financial services or products without our permission. You should avoid dealing with this firm and beware of scams.”

Trying to access Pump Fun from the UK now brings up a notice that states, “In accordance with the laws and regulations of the United Kingdom, this site is currently unavailable to users in the United Kingdom.” 

Users with coins deposited in the “privy wallet” are given a link to withdraw their coins. 

Read more: Hacked X and Insta accounts used for Pump Fun rug pulls

The FCA’s warning means that if you lose money to Pump Fun as a UK resident in any way that warrants a complaint, i.e through criminal means or the business collapsing, you will not be able to access the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme. 

Pump Fun was the subject of criticism last November after its livestream feature showed users holding a fish at gunpoint, making violent threats, and performing gross acts on camera. The backlash prompted Pump Fun to disable the feature for an “indefinite time period.”

The platform has also become a hotspot for rug pulls that involve hackers targeting celebrity Instagram accounts.

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post ‘Ave you got a license for that memecoin? UK bans Pump Fun appeared first on Protos.

TikTok has been accused of operating as an unlicensed crypto exchange in the UK in a letter sent to the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) by a former compliance consultant for a leading private bank.

As reported by Financial News, the letter claims that TikTok’s virtual currency can be indirectly exchanged for fiat through the platform’s reward system. As a result, it says the social media giant should be placed under the FCA’s anti-money laundering and terrorist regulations.

“TikTok via its rewards programme is facilitating money transmission to [money service businesses] and exchanging, or arranging or making arrangements with a view to the exchange of, cryptoassets for money or money for cryptoassets,” the letter says.

Read more: TikTok ‘guru’ launders COVID loans with crypto, spoils girlfriend

Users can purchase so-called TikTok Coins and use them to send ‘gifts’ to content creators. These gifts can then be converted into ‘diamonds’ and cashed out for fiat. The letter claims that because TikTok is not registered with the FCA, the app is at risk of being used by criminals for illicit activities and money laundering without the proper anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. 

However, it’s unclear from the Financial News report how TikTok Coins are classed as cryptocurrency since they are only referred to as “virtual coins” and “virtual tokens.” The report also fails to disclose the identity of the compliance expert, referring to them only as “a former compliance officer at a leading private bank and asset manager.”

TikTok has previously been referred to Australia’s AML authority by Shadow Minister James Paterson and is currently hiring more compliance staff. The state of Utah is also suing the platform over alleged money laundering through its reward system and for facilitating the sexual exploitation of minors. 

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post TikTok accused of operating as crypto exchange in the UK, report appeared first on Protos.

Starling, the online bank that previously banned all crypto-related transactions, has been fined £29 million ($38.5 million) by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for its “shockingly lax” sanction controls.

Starling banned crypto transactions in 2022, describing them as “high risk and heavily used for criminal purposes.” However, the FCA found today that Starling left the financial system “wide open to criminals and those subject to sanctions.”

In 2021, the watchdog raised “serious concerns” with Starling’s anti-money laundering and sanctions framework and the bank agreed not to open accounts for high-risk customers until it addressed these issues. 

But despite this, the FCA found “Starling failed to comply and opened over 54,000 accounts for 49,000 high-risk customers between September 2021 and November 2023.”

Starling also discovered in January 2023 that for six years, its sanctions screening system had been screening only a small fraction of sanctioned individuals. Indeed, at one point, it failed to cross-check against 3,049 designated individuals.

Read more: Chase Bank tells UK crypto users to take their business elsewhere

A report of Starling’s Sanctions Screening Review also found it didn’t adequately assess its sanctions risk and failed to consider high-risk factors including “payments from crypto-related platforms and multicurrency accounts.”  

Starling was initially handed a £41 million fine. However, the FCA allowed for a 30% discount since the bank agreed “to resolve these matters.”

The FCA claims Starling has “established programmes to remediate these breaches and to enhance its wider financial crime control framework.”

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post Starling Bank banned crypto but left financial system ‘open to criminals’ appeared first on Protos.

The UK’s financial regulator has charged a man in London for illegally running a £2.6 million ($3.4 million) network of crypto ATMs without registration. 

That’s according to the Financial Conduct Authority, who accused 45-year-old Olumide Osunkoya of the first charge of its kind involving the running of multiple illegal crypto ATMs.  

Osunkoya’s crypto ATM network allegedly processed millions of pounds worth of transactions between 29 December 2021 and 8 September 2023 without FCA approval.

The man was charged twice under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act, and twice under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations.

The FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight said, “Our message today is clear. If you’re illegally operating a crypto ATM, we will stop you.”

The FCA reiterated, “There are no legal crypto ATM operators in the UK.” 

Read more: It took UK regulator ‘25 years’ to assess all crypto applications

Police in Kent issued the first crypto ATM indictment in August. In this case, multiple crypto ATMs were seized but the individual was charged with the illegal running of one crypto ATM. The suspect was also accused of laundering £300,000 ($395,000).

Today’s alleged crypto ATM operator is scheduled to appear before a magistrate court by the end of this month. 

Quotes in bold are our emphasis. Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post UK regulator cracks down on crypto ATM network in London appeared first on Protos.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken the equivalent of 25 years to process incoming crypto applications, according to a freedom of information request (FOI).

It has also been reported that the number of crypto firms registering with the FCA has fallen by 51% in the past three years and that 186 have withdrawn their applications to the financial regulator. This has raised concerns about whether the lengthy timescales are forcing crypto asset firms to look elsewhere for a place to do business.  

According to the Financial Times, the FOI submitted by the Law firm Reed Smith revealed that assessing a crypto application took the FCA an average of 459 days.

The number of submitted applications dropped to 29 between May 2023 and April 2024, down from 42 and 59 in the two years prior. Only seven applications were made in the first quarter of 2024. 

Read more: FCA tackles ‘operational backlog’ with 100 crypto staff

Reed Smith partner Brett Hillis said, “If it’s the case that applications are falling because crypto firms have essentially given up waiting and started looking abroad, this should send a clear warning about London’s competitiveness.”

He added, “Firms aren’t going to wait forever for approval, particularly if another jurisdiction seems to offer a comparatively quick process, with access to a comparably sized or even larger market.”

He also noted, however, “The good news is that the falling number of applications suggests that firms are now much better acquainted with what the regulator expects.

Read more: FCA too slow on crypto enforcement, says UK’s spending watchdog

“This can only be a positive development and would also explain the fall in approval times as the FCA has to spend less time wading through poor-quality applications. Clearly, though, there is scope to speed up further.”

In June, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight announced that crypto firms are registering with the FCA at an increased rate. The FCA also announced that it is upping its team of crypto staff to 100.

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post It took UK regulator ‘25 years’ to assess all crypto applications appeared first on Protos.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it is clearing an ‘operational backlog’ by approving an increasing number of registering crypto firms and growing its crypto capability to 100 employees. 

In a speech given yesterday, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Steve Smart, said that crypto firms are registering with the regulator at an increased rate thanks to the FCA helping them to better navigate its registration process. 

Smart said that prior to this, “some 86% of the initial crypto registrations we received were rejected, withdrawn or refused.” He said a total of 44 crypto firms are now registered with the FCA while the watchdog works “to eliminate our operational backlog.” 

To help it relieve this logjam, the Financial News (FN) reported today that the FCA has increased its crypto staff to 100 and that the fastest-growing crypto team in the organization is its policy department.  

Read more: UK shuts down ‘trust me bro’ crypto firm that promoted $1.7B Ponzi

The bulk of this staff is allocated to the authorization and supervision departments, which are responsible for overseeing regulatory approval and monitoring approved firms in the market respectively. 

The UK Government’s National Audit Office scrutinized the FCA last December, claiming that the watchdog enforces crypto laws too slowly and requires more crypto-savvy staff to prevent delays in registering crypto firms.

Last week the FN reported that crypto firms registering with the FCA have had to wait over a year to pass its checks. In one case, it reportedly took 753 days for one crypto firm application to be refused. The FN also claims the average age of an FCA application is 385 days. 

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post FCA tackles ‘operational backlog’ with 100 crypto staff appeared first on Protos.

The UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) has accused the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of enforcing crypto laws too slowly and said that a shortage of crypto-savvy staff has caused delays in registering crypto firms.

That’s according to today’s report published by the NAO, a non-government entity tasked with scrutinizing public spending. It claims crypto-assets may be a key area of uncertainty capable of hindering the FCA’s ability as a regulator.

In its key findings, the report states “there can be a significant delay between the FCA identifying an issue to tackle, and it taking regulatory action.” It cited the FCA’s slow approach to cracking down on illegal crypto ATMS.

“While the FCA has required crypto-asset firms to comply with anti-money laundering regulations since January 2020, and began supervision work including engaging with unregistered firms, it did not begin taking enforcement action against illegal operators of crypto ATMs until February 2023,” the report explained.

Read more: FCA identifies three major problems with UK crypto promotions

In addition, it claims a shortage of crypto skills among staff has made the FCA “take longer than planned” to register crypto-asset firms under money laundering regulations.

“The FCA has experienced high staff turnover, including at senior levels, in recent years,” the document reads. “While turnover for the FCA as a whole has now fallen, delivery risks remain high in some specialist areas.”

The report states the FCA found employing and retaining staff with crypto compliance skills “difficult” because of competition from other employers.

The FCA has reportedly dealt with over 1,400 cases related to illicit crypto activity between January 2020 and June 2023. It has also received over 13,350 reports of crypto scams between 2020 and the first half of 2022, all the while overseeing 50,000 companies across the UK.

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post FCA too slow on crypto enforcement, says UK’s spending watchdog appeared first on Protos.

The UK’s finance watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has publicly warned users that Justin Sun’s crypto exchange Poloniex is operating unauthorized.

As such, financial laws don’t protect traders using the platform, the FCA warned on Wednesday. The financial watchdog already added Justin Sun’s HTX and KuCoin to its warning list in October, along with 138 other crypto firms.

“[Poloniex] may be promoting financial services or products without our permission,” the FCA alert said. “You should avoid dealing with this firm.”

Seychelles-based Poloniex was one of three entities owned by Sun to recently fall victim to a suspicious hack — ever since Sun’s friend, former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao (CZ), pled guilty to criminal charges. The unknown hacker stole $114 million from Poloniex, $30 million from HTX, and $87 million from the HECO bridge.

Read more: HTX hacked week after Poloniex — now Justin Sun only posts as AI

Since CZ’s settlement with the Department of Justice, Sun has been acting odd on social media. The crypto entrepreneur has exclusively posted AI-enhanced videos of himself that are clearly pre-recorded — prompting some users to suspect Sun was really behind the hacks on his own exchanges as part of his final exit.

Along with Poloniex and HTX, the FCA has also recently warned against Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company.

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post Justin Sun’s Poloniex added to UK regulator warning list appeared first on Protos.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has identified what it says are “three common issues with crypto asset financial promotions.”

Crypto promotions came under the watchdog’s remit following a change in legislation earlier this month and it has now highlighted three major red flags that it will be looking to crack down on. These are:

• Promotions making claims about the ‘safety,’ ‘security,’ or ease of using crypto asset services without highlighting the risk involved,
• risk warnings not being visible enough due to small fonts, hard-to-read coloring, or non-prominent positioning,
• firms failing to provide customers with adequate information on the risks associated with specific products being promoted.

Under the new rules, firms wanting to promote crypto assets in the UK, regardless of where they’re based, must be authorized or registered with the FCA. New promotions must be “clear, fair and not misleading, labeled with prominent risk warnings, and must not inappropriately incentivize people to invest.”

According to the FCA, customers dealing with any so-called ‘unauthorized firms’ won’t be covered by the UK’s financial ombudsman or Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Read more: Latest FCA warning gives UK crypto firms one last chance to avoid prison

In a statement published today, the regulator says it’s working with social media platforms, app stores, search engines, and domain name registrars to remove or block illegal promotions. It also says that it expects authorized firms to take their regulatory obligations seriously and play their part in protecting customers.

The regulator added that, since the new rules came into effect, it has issued 221 alerts and that its ‘warning list’ will be updated regularly with firms that “illegally communicate crypto asset promotions and fail to engage with us constructively.”

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The post FCA identifies three major problems with UK crypto promotions appeared first on Protos.