According to a report by Ian Allison of CoinDesk, the company “OANDA Crypto” will be established in London and will begin crypto trading in the UK. OANDA is a brokerage firm.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom is now the official registrant of the brokerage. The company obtained its FCA registration in 2023 after acquiring Coinpass, a cryptocurrency exchange situated in London.
The broker’s website states that OANDA is a worldwide brokerage with regulated companies in several cities across the world, including New York, Toronto, London, Warsaw, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney.
“A highly engaged and knowledgeable market characterizes the United Kingdom, according to Lucian Lauerman, head of digital assets at OANDA, who spoke with CoinDesk. One reason the UK crypto prospect appealed to us is because it’s starting to converge with our conventional markets. The threshold for regulation has been raised somewhat,” Lauerman chimed in.
Further comment on the report could not be provided by an OANDA spokesman. In response to concerns about money laundering, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently undertook internal inspections of 44 cryptocurrency businesses with a UK registration. The regulator emphasized important areas in the UK markets, including restrictions on digital assets, in a press statement dated February 14th. The FCA expanded its sector monitoring duties last year to include consumer protection and advertising compliance. The announcement states that in the last three months, the FCA has implemented important measures to ensure the security of customer funds.
In its pursuit of complete compliance with anti-money laundering laws, the FCA has examined forty-four digital asset companies with UK registrations.
Coincidentally, with the tightening of banking restrictions in the UK last year, crypto firms voiced their concerns to the administration of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. According to London-based crypto exchange Coinpass CEO and co-founder Jeff Hancock, “any attempt to make the UK a crypto center, which is what Rishi and the authorities claim they want, is hindered by the lack of access to banks.”
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