The UK FCA will spend more than $ 670,000 to train a staff that will focus its efforts on detecting criminal activity linked to cryptocurrencies.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s regulatory entity, is now expanding its procedures to regulate cryptocurrencies. The goal now is to prevent criminal activities associated with Bitcoin.
The FCA expressed through a tender announcement shared by City that it is seeking experts to train its staff in identifying potential cryptocurrency-related criminal activities.
The agency would be spending at least £ 500,000 (at least $ 671,000) on consultants from the potential Blockchain analytics firm that will help its staff detect and prevent money laundering and terrorism activities linked to cryptocurrencies.
The FCA will engage the services of a third-party company as part of its mandates to boost its functions as a digital asset supervisor in the UK.
A Significant Number of Bitcoiners
According to the information, FCA’s approach considers the number of UK residents who own Bitcoin. Previous research by the regulator indicated that around 1.9 million people in the UK own Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In recent months, the FCA has increasingly focused on regulating the cryptocurrency sector while issuing warnings to investors about the stability of digital currencies.
Likewise, the FCA banned many cryptocurrency-related businesses in the country. In June, the regulator indicated that crypto exchange Binance did not have permission to conduct any regulated activity in the UK.
Earlier in March, the entity revealed a new policy statement from which cryptocurrency companies will get included in the business category called REP-CRIM. He said they published a policy statement, which will see crypto-asset deals added to the companies that must file the annual report on financial crimes.
A War against Money Laundering
Overall, the FCA’s primary focus has been on solid anti-money laundering regulations. This year, amid the growth of the cryptocurrency sector, the FCA released new proposals that intend to tighten procedures against money laundering.
One of the controversial proposals would try to target entities that the authority qualified as high risk of money laundering. Businesses under this category would get directly supervised by money laundering, terrorist financing, and funds transfer regulations.
Furthermore, there is an open investigation of an advertisement of the cryptocurrency Floki Inu (FLOKI) that got placed on London public transport.
This information got revealed by the British authorities in reports that appeared in various media outlets. They reported that they consider this practice “unethical” and that all brands associated with cryptocurrencies that wish to advertise their products should be subject to a much more exhaustive investigation.
By: Jenson Nuñez
