Wirex, a cryptocurrency wallet company, has decided to give up on getting licenced by the UK regulator, but it has no intention of stopping serving British customers.
The formal, twice-revised deadline for firms to either halt trading or be authorised as part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-money laundering regime falls on March 31, later this week.
Wirex was on the FCA’s interim register, which allowed it to continue operating in the UK while the watchdog made its final decision. However, the firm, which has 250,000 British clients, informed that it had withdrawn its application completely.
Despite this, Wirex will continue to provide crypto services to British customers, even though it will be from an overseas base in Croatia called Wirex Digital, which is registered with the Croatian authority, HANFA.
“These changes will have no effect on customers, and Wirex will continue to deliver its industry-leading services as usual for global clients, including those in the United Kingdom,” stated Wirex CEO Pavel Matveev. He also said that Wirex’s FCA-regulated e-money operations, conducted via Wirex Limited, would remain unaffected.
Despite not being on the FCA’s crypto register, other crypto businesses, notably exchange behemoths like Coinbase, already provide services to British clients.
