How to successfully obtain FCA cryptocurrency registration
Obtaining a FCA cryptocurrency registration can be useful for your business
If you have a business that carries out specific crypto-asset activities in the UK, then you should register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This organization is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, managing over 58000 financial service firms and financial markets. The FCA mission is to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and the illegal transfer of funds or information on the payer. Unfortunately, obtaining an FCA cryptocurrency registration isn’t as straightforward as one might hope.
There are several steps that you must take before you are officially granted one. To help our readers get through this complicated process, we thought we would go over the different steps in our article today.
Prepare information on the business
Before you begin the application process for an FCA cryptocurrency registration, you should collate and organise all the relevant information you can on your business. For starters, you will need to provide a business plan and marketing plan. Your business plan should outline things like your key objectives, target demographic, projections, and so on. Meanwhile, the marketing plan should cover your distribution channels and target audience. The FCA also requires your programme of operations. This is what specific crypto-asset activities your business will be engaging in. For example, does it facilitate the conversion of pounds into a cryptocurrency? You should also prepare details on your structural organisation, what systems you use, any governmental arrangements you have, and what the external and internal controls are. For more specific information on each of these things, you can look at the FCA website.
Conduct a risk assessment
The FCA is a financial regulatory body. The whole point of obtaining a cryptocurrency registration with them is to prove that you are adhering to ‘money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds (information on the payer)’ regulations. So, if you want to successfully complete your FCA application, then you will need to conduct a thorough risk assessment and create an efficient framework for compliance within your business. If you require help with this, then you should consider investing in some compliance consulting. Specialists in the financial sector and cryptocurrency industry would be best, as they should be well informed on all the latest regulations. Once you have completed a risk assessment and made the necessary changes to your business’s framework, you should have no trouble proceeding to the next stage of the application process.
Review each individual
To successfully obtain your FCA cryptocurrency registration, you will need to review each individual involved in your organisation. Whether that’s your managers, your employees, business partners, or close links, their information should be supplied. This is important so that the FCA can thoroughly screen your business for any potential criminals. In addition to this, if you have recently had an external compliance audit, then you may need to provide information on who conducted the review to authenticate their legitimacy.
Specific information on crypto-assets
Another important step in successfully obtaining your FCA cryptocurrency registration is providing specific information on the crypto-asset procedures of your business. For instance, you should supply details on your customer onboarding agreements, customer due diligence procedures, transaction monitoring processes, record-keeping system, budget forecasts for the next three financial years, and so on. All this information is vital for a successful application.
Finally, you should be ready to begin applying for your FCA cryptocurrency registration. An application fee of £2000 is required for businesses with an income below £250,000, whilst those who earn over this amount must pay £10,000. Get yourself registered with the FCA today!
