UK Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has put forward a contract seeking for external consultants that will help to train staff on the terrorism financing and money laundering activities that is presently ravaging the crypto industry.
The FCA is set to spend £500,000 ($670,000) on these consultants amid growing concerns about how criminals use cryptocurrencies in their bad acts.
UK Regulator Seeks Assistance From Third-party Firm
According to the UK regulator, the services of the consultants are needed to support the analysis of cryptoasset blockchain data. The FCA says any third-party firm that can offer efficient and well-detailed analysis of cryptoasset blockchain data, and can also provide ongoing support as well as oversee the training of staff in that line, is highly needed at this moment.
The announcement follows, after the last few months have seen crypto-based terrorism financing rise sky-high, making major headlines in the process. The UK regulator is not alone on this though. Recently, we also reported at TheCoinrise that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in a similar manner, has tagged ransomware attacks as terrorism. There’s also the far-right extremists raising millions in cryptocurrencies,and then the spokesperson for Hamas, admitting to a spike in Bitcoin donations amid renewed conflict with Israel.
Consumer Protection Remains The Priority
All through 2021, the FCA has made it a point of duty to maintain a strict focus on consumer risk and protection of investors. In this regard, the regulator has made some tough decisions concerning the crypto industry.
It all started as early as January, when the FCA banned crypto derivatives for retail investors, citing lack of consumer understanding and extreme price volatility as some of the major reasons for the ban. On many other occasions, the regulator issued endless series of consumer warnings for investors to be readily prepared to “lose all their money” in the event that they choose to invest in crypto assets.
Even though the agency has always been invested in customer protection, the new training regime, however, signifies that the FCA might be getting more concerned about terrorism and other major crimes that could be linked with crypto.
