Young and small cryptocurrency businesses will pay lower registration fees than big companies, the United Kingdom’s financial watchdog has decided after consultations with members of the industry. The revised fee scheme takes into account the firms’ income to determine the amount they’ll be charged to cover supervision costs.
Also read: Singapore Introduces Licensing for Crypto Platforms, New Payment Services Act Now in Force
Two-Tier Fee Scheme Replaces Proposed £5,000 Flat Charge
According to recently announced amendments to the registration regime, small crypto companies will pay £2,000 (around $2,600) for their applications while those with turnover from crypto-related activity exceeding £250,000 ($325,000) will face a higher fee of £10,000 ($13,000). The new two-tier system replaces the flat-rate charge of £5,000 that was proposed last year.
In October, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consultation paper with its proposals for recovering the oversight costs from the crypto sector under the country’s updated regulations transposing EU’s AMLD5. Since Jan. 10, the agency has been the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervisor of businesses operating with digital assets. The changes were made by the FCA Board on the same date and came in force on Jan. 13. The handbook notice was published on Jan. 31.
The FCA, which is funded by the fees and levies from the firms it regulates, had estimated it would need to collect a total of £400,000 ($520,000) from 80 potential applicants for the costs of the regulatory gateway. The revision of the application fees comes after the authority received 29 consultation responses and held a meeting with crypto businesses. The authority details:
A strong message from a roundtable meeting with cryptoasset businesses on 18 October 2019, backed up by many of
