Revolut Business reportedly cuts crypto services ahead of new UK rules

Neobank Revolut will temporarily halt cryptocurrency purchases on its business platform in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the new year, according to a media report. An email informing customers of the decision mentioned only purchasing, implying holding crypto and selling it could go uninterrupted.

Revolut said the pause was needed to give it more time to comply with new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules on promoting crypto that come into force on Jan. 8, 2024. Revolut Business will halt crypto purchases on Jan. 3, it said. In a message reproduced in an X (formerly Twitter) post, Revolut Business told customers:

“We’ll need to adjust our current Business crypto offering to make sure all of the new requirements are met.”

Revolut is the latest of several firms impacted by the FCA rules, which the regulator itself described as “tough.” The rules were announced in June and were intended to bring crypto advertising into line with other high-risk investment products.

Looks like @RevolutApp is the latest bank to ‘suspend’ #crypto services here in the UK due to the @TheFCA ‘s latest regs.
As history tells us, this has the exact opposite effect & simply moves people further away from the financial system. Fortunately with #bitcoin, the entire… pic.twitter.com/iw0uniVSKC

— Jason Deane (@JasonADeane) December 18, 2023

Among the new requirements were customer warnings of the risky nature of crypto investments, a ban on bonuses for referring new customers and a “cooling-off period” delaying the placing of orders from first-time investors.

The Jan. 8 deadline is an extension from Oct. 8 provided after it became apparent that there would be hitches with compliance. In September, the FCA was already noticing that engagement from many crypto firms had been low. By Oct. 25, the FCA had recorded over 200 breaches of the rules, and it issued additional guidance on the rules in November.

In September, Bybit announced it was leaving the U.K. market, and Solana-based NMarinade Finance began blocking U.K. users. Binance halted customer onboarding in the country in October after its compliance partner, Rebuildoingsociety.com, ran afoul of the rules.

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