Britain's Crypto Regulation Regime to Go Live in 2026

According to a recent CNBC report, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K.'s financial watchdog, the world's sixth-biggest economy intends to implement a full-fledged regulatory regime in 2026.

For now, crypto remains mostly unregulated in the country.

For the remainder of 2024, the FCA plans to focus on stablecoins and fighting market abuse.

Next year, the regulator plans to cover a wide range of crypto market sectors, such as trading, lending and staking.

The FCA's final policy statement is expected to be published in 2026.

Earlier this year, the British financial watchdog stated that the vast majority of cryptocurrency did not manage to meet the necessary standards for approval.

Little to no protection

In its recent press release, the FCA also reported a notable increase in cryptocurrency awareness. A whopping 93% of Brits are now familiar with the newfangled asset class.

Notably, a third of the people surveyed by the FCA naively believe that they can seek financial protection if something goes wrong with their cryptocurrency holdings. However, the regulator has determined that customers are "unlikely" to be protected if things go south.

In September, the FCA charged a Londoner with operating a network of illegal cryptocurrency ATMs.

Morocco also regulating crypto

In other news, Morocco is also preparing a law to regulate cryptocurrencies, according to a Tuesday report by Reuters.

Holding and trading crypto was initially banned in the North African country back in 2017.