Treasury, FCA and crypto-regulation – are consumers too exposed?

Research by the regulator has revealed poor levels of publicunderstanding about cryptoassets, and activity in this area can leave consumersat serious risk of suffering loss. Treasury proposals are a step in the rightdirection, argues Thomas Cattee.

Thomas Cattee is a white-collar crime lawyer at Gherson Solicitors. He haspreviously worked with the Serious Fraud Office and completed an LLM(Distinction) in Financial Regulation and Compliance, with a dissertationfocused on the regulation of blockchain technology.

In the United Kingdom, cryptoasset relatedactivities are rightly being increasingly regulated for anti-money laundering (AML)and financial crime reporting purposes. However, except where cryptoassets crossover into certain other regulated areas, there is currently no specific widerregulatory framework. As such it has been recognised that they may not besubject to the same consumer protections or safeguards as other financialservices. This comes at a time of increased public awareness yet decreasedgeneral understanding of this complex area (see more on this, below).