The FCA published the final rulebook for UK crypto authorisation on 30 June 2026, and the line that matters most for anyone already trading is blunt: your existing registration does not carry over. Firms holding a money-laundering registration, an e-money or payments authorisation, or a financial-promotions approval will all need fresh permission under the full Financial Services and Markets Act regime. Our read for founders and compliance leads is that this is a calendar problem before it is a capital problem, and the calendar is short.
The reason is the transitional window. Firms that want to keep operating while they seek authorisation must apply between 30 September 2026 and 28 February 2027. Apply inside that window and you can carry on regulated activity under savings provisions while the FCA assesses you. Miss it and you may have to stop UK-facing activity until you are authorised outright. It is the same dynamic that caught firms out under the EU's MiCA transition this year, where a missed deadline meant losing market access.
The final UK crypto authorisation rules, in brief
The 30 June package sets the rules for every regulated cryptoasset activity: stablecoin issuance, custody and safeguarding, market abuse, prudential capital, and how the FCA Handbook applies. The substantive regime commences on 25 October 2027, so the months between now and then are the build phase. This is settled rulemaking, not another consultation. For stablecoin issuers, backing assets must be segregated, held on trust for holders and placed with an independent third party outside the issuer's group, with up to a 5% excess permitted in the backing pool. If you are weighing the UK against an EU CASP licence or a Gulf regime, you can now compare like for like on the UK terms rather than against a moving target.
Does your existing UK crypto registration carry over?
No. This is the point that catches teams out, so it is worth stating plainly. The 2020-era money-laundering registration that many exchanges and custodians rely on was always an anti-money-laundering gateway, not full authorisation. Under the new regime it buys you nothing automatically. The same holds for payments and e-money firms whose activities touch cryptoassets. If you hold a UK crypto position today, treat the September window as a hard internal deadline and work backwards from it. The detail sits on our UK crypto profile, and the trade-offs against other regimes are on the crypto comparison view.
Where this leaves an EMI or payments firm
The regime deliberately reaches into e-money and payments. If you run an EMI or a payment institution and you are building stablecoin rails, your perimeter is now a live question, because a parallel Treasury instrument may move UK-issued payment stablecoins out of the crypto regime and into a future payments framework instead. The practical step is to map which of your activities fall inside the cryptoasset perimeter before you assume your current licence covers them. Our UK e-money profile sets out the baseline you are starting from.
For a wider view of how the UK now sits against the jurisdictions applicants are shortlisting, our State of Crypto Licensing reports track the same themes quarter by quarter.
This post is informational only and is not legal advice.