UK Financial Markets and Services Bill published an amendment document on Friday, portraying that the UK government wants to regulate cryptocurrencies and ban unauthorized service providers.

Andrew Griffith, minister for financial services, in the amendments document, stated: “to clarify that powers related to financial promotion and regulated activities can be relied upon to regulate crypto assets and crypto asset related activities. Cryptoasset is also defines, with a power to modify the definition.”

If the bill passes, the amendments will give the UK government a broader regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. In particular, the bill will provide the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury with more supervisory authority over crypto regulation.

Progress on the bill will end on November 3. However, due to the confusion with Prime Minister Liz Truss, who handed in her resignation on Thursday, it is said that there could eventually be some changes to the timetable.

As of now, the UK’s crypto regulatory powers are awarded primarily to the FCA as the UK government has provided the FCA with the ability to regulate the advertising and promotion of crypto assets under its existing supervisory framework.

In July 2020, the UK government was concerned that the lack of regulation around cryptocurrency and its associated financial products often leave investors in the crypto industry without the same protections afforded to retail investors, such as compensation and authorized recourse.

And as a result of this, the UK government proposed that crypto asset promotions should fall within the scope of existing Financial Conduct Authority supervision and should not require an entirely new framework just for digital assets.

City Minister Glen said: “If ads from unauthorized businesses are misleading or don’t fully describe the risks, then people can end up losing money. This is why we want to put more protections in place around such financial promotions, including the promotion of crypto assets, while continuing to ensure that people have access to a wide range of products on the market.”

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