Britain’s main financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has indicated that the US and UK will deepen their ties over crypto regulation. It indicated the following:

“In the past, innovative companies would have advocated for less regulation. Now they understand and appreciate that rules are there to provide security.”

The chief executive of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, Nikhil Rathi, outlined the FCA’s regulatory objectives on Wednesday at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He said the following:

“One area of global focus is crypto, both opportunities and risks. currently, our assignment is limited to anti-money laundering rules for platforms. We have applied those strict rules as we would for any other company wishing to operate in the UK market.”

He added:

“The US and UK will deepen ties on crypto asset regulation and market developments, including with regard to stablecoins and central bank digital currency exploration.”

Rathi went on to mention that the FCA held “cryptosprints” earlier this year, which drew nearly 200 attendees. “The purpose of the events was to gauge the industry’s opinion of the current market and design an appropriate regulatory regime,” the FCA explains on its website. It said the following about this:

“Participants told us that they wanted a regulatory regime for crypto assets as a high priority … they also want the regulation to be put in place over time so that companies and investors can prepare and that the rules fit the evolving crypto assets.”

The FCA chief noted:

“In the past, innovative companies would have advocated for less regulation. Now they understand and appreciate that rules are there to provide security.

We support demonstrably responsible use cases for the underlying technology and ensure that this does not come at the expense of appropriate consumer protection or market integrity.”

The British government set out its legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year in May in the Queen’s speech. One of the bills aims to support “the secure adoption of cryptocurrencies and resilient outsourcing to technology providers.” Another goal is to “create forces to seize and recover crypto assets faster and easier, the main medium used for ransomware.”

Further, in April, the British government unveiled a detailed plan to make the country a global crypto hub and “a welcoming place for crypto.” The plan includes establishing a dynamic regulatory framework for crypto, regulating stablecoins, and working with the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token (NFT) that will be issued this summer.