An FCA “cryptoasset registration” means a firm appears on the register the FCA keeps under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs). That status exists for one purpose: anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing (AML/CTF) supervision. It does not mean the FCA has approved the firm’s business model, checked its solvency, or authorised it the way it authorises a bank or investment firm under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) — a distinction the FCA states directly on its own registration page, and one that CryptoSlate’s legal-reference summary underlines by noting the registration should not be presented as equivalent to full FSMA authorisation.
What the rule actually targets
The FCA has supervised UK cryptoasset businesses under the MLRs since 10 January 2020, according to the FCA’s registration page. Registration is required for two categories of activity set out in the MLRs: a cryptoasset exchange provider, which Regulation 14A of the MLRs (SI 2017/692) defines — per the excerpt published on legislation.gov.uk and mirrored on the FCA’s own page — as covering exchanging crypto for money or money for crypto, exchanging one cryptoasset for another, arranging such exchanges, or operating a crypto ATM; and a custodian wallet provider, which the FCA’s own page describes as covering safeguarding customers’ cryptoassets, or safeguarding and administering the private keys used to hold, store or transfer them. Firms already authorised by the FCA for other regulated activities — for example as payment institutions or e-money institutions — still need this separate MLR registration if they offer in-scope crypto services, per the FCA’s page.
The UK-nexus test
The FCA’s own page sets out three questions it uses to decide whether a business needs to register: is the activity in scope of Regulation 14A; is it carried on “by way of business” (a commercial, repeated activity rather than an occasional one); and is it carried on in the UK. On the third question, the FCA treats a UK office, head office, or the physical presence of a crypto ATM in the UK as indicators of UK activity — an ATM operator is automatically considered to be carrying on business in the UK, per the FCA’s page. But the FCA states that an offshore exchange with no UK office or agents, which simply allows UK customers to open accounts and trade, would not automatically be treated as carrying on business in the UK merely because it has UK clients.
What registration requires once granted
Registration is not a one-off filing. The FCA assesses officers, managers and beneficial owners against a fit-and-proper test, and the MLRs give the FCA power to refuse an application where requirements are not met or information is materially false, per CryptoSlate’s summary of the statutory framework. Registered firms must maintain a business-wide risk assessment under Regulation 18 of the MLRs, and appoint a senior manager responsible for compliance and a nominated officer under Regulation 21, notifying the FCA of that appointment within 14 days, per the FCA Handbook’s Financial Crime Guide (FCG). The FCG, dated May 2026, states that its money-laundering and sanctions chapters — FCG 3 and FCG 7 — are relevant to cryptoasset businesses registered under the MLRs. Separately, Part 7A of the MLRs, the cryptoasset “Travel Rule,” has required originator and beneficiary information to accompany certain transfers since 1 September 2023, per CryptoSlate’s summary.
How many applicants actually get registered
The FCA publishes its own monthly outcome data, and as of 1 August 2026 it shows registration is the less common outcome once a decision is reached. Since the regime began in January 2020, the FCA had determined 391 applications: 68 were registered (17%), 46 were rejected (12%), 14 were refused (4%), and 263 — two-thirds of all determined applications — were withdrawn (67%), according to the FCA’s own published table. In the 12 months to 1 August 2026, the pattern shifted somewhat: of 23 determined applications, 13 were registered (56%) and 2 were rejected (9%), per the same table. The FCA’s data notes that these figures exclude the outcome of any appeals against refusal decisions. The FCA also runs pre-application meetings; since it began offering these in January 2024, it had received 115 requests and conducted 82 meetings as of 1 August 2026, per its own page.
Marketing rules are separate from registration
The UK’s financial promotions regime applies to any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers, regardless of where that firm is based or how the promotion is delivered, according to the FCA’s page. A firm that wants to market directly to UK customers generally needs the MLR registration itself, unless its promotions are approved by an authorised person or fall under an exemption in the Financial Promotion Order. This means a firm can be outside the registration regime on the narrow UK-nexus test above and still be caught by the promotions rules the moment it advertises to UK consumers.
This is not FSMA authorisation — and that is changing
CryptoSlate’s summary states plainly that MLR registration does not convert into, or guarantee, FSMA authorisation. The UK is building a separate, broader FSMA cryptoasset regime: per CryptoSlate’s summary, the FCA’s application window for that regime runs from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, and the new regime is due to start on 25 October 2027 — a start date also given on the FCA’s own page. Once the FSMA regime is fully in force, firms that become authorised or hold “specified-investment” cryptoasset status will be removed from the MLR register and instead follow a notification route, while businesses that remain outside FSMA authorisation will stay on the MLR gateway, per CryptoSlate’s summary of the 2026 Cryptoassets Regulations (SI 2026/102, made 4 February 2026). Separately, the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/621) were made on 9 June 2026, with most provisions commencing 30 June 2026; crypto-specific enhanced due diligence for certain correspondent relationships starts 1 February 2027, and parts of a revised change-in-control schedule phase in through 25 October 2027, per CryptoSlate.
What this page does not tell you
This page cannot tell a reader whether any specific FCA-registered firm is safe to use. Registration is a legal AML/CTF gatekeeping check, not a solvency, conduct, or consumer-protection review, and the FCA itself frames it that way on its own page rather than as an endorsement. The application-outcome percentages above are the FCA’s own self-published monthly figures; there is no independent audit of how those determinations were reached, and the FCA’s table explicitly excludes any outcome of an appeal against a refusal. Neither the FCA’s page nor CryptoSlate’s summary gives firm-by-firm detail — no names of which companies were registered, rejected, or withdrew their applications — so this page cannot be used to check any individual exchange or wallet provider’s status; a reader who wants that has to consult the FCA’s register directly. Nor does the evidence here explain why 263 of 391 determined applications since January 2020 were withdrawn rather than rejected or refused — the FCA’s published table gives the count but not the reasons. Finally, because the FSMA cryptoasset regime due in October 2027 has not yet taken final form, this page describes the AML-only regime as it currently stands and cannot describe rules that have not yet been made.
Sources
Every fact above is attributed to one of these reports. Where they disagree, the article says so.
