The Financial Conduct Authority’s High Court proceedings against offshore exchange HTX are the first action of their kind, and for Nick Jones they mark the moment the UK regulator began baring its teeth ahead of its crypto authorisation gateway opening on 30 September 2026.
The founder and chief executive of digital-assets-as-a-service platform Zumo told The Fintech Times what firms should expect between now and the full regime landing in October 2027, and why he believes the era of offshore provision is coming to an end.
By legislating to extend existing financial regulation to companies involved in crypto, rather than producing complicated rules tailored to the industry as the EU did with its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, Jones argues that “UK policymakers have made it clear they believe digital assets can successfully coexist with fiat money in a reimagined future financial system.”
He credits the FCA for engaging with the industry along the way. Its Sprint sessions let industry stakeholders help shape the incoming regime, and its Pre-Application Support Service offers free meetings where providers can discuss their business models ahead of the gateway opening. “While, as the HTX episode shows, the FCA is clamping down on those who don’t abide by its rules, it’s also actively looking to support firms to ensure that they can extend their operations into the UK compliantly.”
On the HTX action itself, Jones is unequivocal. “It sets a strong precedent. By pursuing HTX for Financial Promotions breaches, the regulator is signalling the end of enforcement-free marketing for overseas crypto firms and forcing compliance across the sector.” As the first enforcement action of its kind against an offshore exchange, he says, the proceedings demonstrate that the FCA’s reach can extend to anyone marketing to UK citizens, wherever in the world they may be based.
Stepping onshore, as Jones describes it, means transitioning from the unregulated or loosely supervised set-ups providers may have known elsewhere to full integration with the UK’s strict but globally renowned financial system: complying with the Financial Promotions rules while preparing for prudential and market abuse requirements ahead of the October 2027 enforcement deadline. Where do most stumble? Historically on weak anti-money laundering and know-your-customer controls. “Many have been guilty of treating AML registration as a tick-box exercise rather than an opportunity to future-proof their business model.” Others, as the HTX case highlighted, run advertising or social media promotions that miss the required risk warnings.
The scale of the readiness gap is suggested by Zumo’s own early findings from its UK Regulatory Preparedness Assessment, a survey that remains open until 30 September. According to those early numbers, seven in ten crypto firms see losing UK market access as a
key risk of the incoming regime, yet just one in ten feel fully prepared for the new rules. “So there is work to be done,” Jones said.
Financial institutions, meanwhile, appear to see authorisation as a game changer for their digital assets appetite. “We’ve seen a big uptick over the summer in inbound partnership interest from large firms based here in the UK and overseas,” Jones said. Institutions have held back due to regulatory uncertainty and counterparty risk concerns, not for lack of understanding or interest; many have run extensive pilots or launched products in other markets. “The market has matured, and financial institutions are preparing to enter the game.”
What is now urgently needed, he argues, is UK-compliant infrastructure and UK routes to market that can accommodate the new levels of operating obligations. For Zumo that means providing clients with institutional-grade custodial arrangements and multiple liquidity providers to eliminate the risk associated with single points of failure, the critical partner infrastructure he sees as “the real bridge to uniting UK regulatory oversight and consumer trust with international competitiveness and connectivity to the global cryptoasset ecosystem.”
Looking across jurisdictions, Jones believes “the outlook is very promising for the UK.” Thanks to the FCA’s crypto roadmap, providers get a more systemic, phased and predictable path to compliance than the fragmented approaches seen elsewhere: in the EU, MiCA’s efficiency is being hampered by differing national interpretations and diverging rollouts, while in the US the CLARITY Act continues to be hit by delays. He sees similarities between Abu Dhabi Global Market‘s Virtual Asset Framework and the FCA’s approach, both
converging on bringing crypto under mainstream financial services regulation. “In time, the UK will need the right international partners to help develop new digital asset trade corridors, and the UAE is one market that policymakers should be watching closely.”
The post Zumo’s Nick Jones on the FCA Baring its Teeth appeared first on The Fintech Times.
