This is the culmination of a yearslong effort in the U.K. government to create new rules to govern cryptocurrency business within its borders. As such, it represents something of a departure for the U.K. from its usual approach to crypto asset regulation. Historically, Britain’s financial regulators have not had the power to regulate – and thus have avoided regulating – crypto-assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, or Cosmos in their capacity as investments, at least in the same manner that they regulated TradFi instruments such as securities. This differs significantly from the regulatory landscape in the United States where, infamously, the SEC asserts more or less plenary authority over the cryptocurrency sector by utilizing 90-year-old securities legislation, and in relation to which it has been prosecuting a regulation-by-enforcement campaign in the federal courts.
