Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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PayPal has registered with the FCA to enable it to provide crypto-related services in the UK.
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This comes a few days after the UK Treasury published its final proposals for cryptocurrency regulation.
PayPal UK Registers With The FCA
PayPal UK has registered with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), enabling it to provide crypto asset activities within the country.
The FCA’s website indicated that the registration was effective from October 31. However, the regulatory agency added that PayPal UK will be subject to specific restrictions that apply unless the FCA has granted otherwise.
The current restrictions imply that PayPal UK cannot onboard new customers at the moment. Furthermore, existing customers will only be able to hold or sell tokens as they won’t be able to buy new tokens. The regulator added that PayPal UK will also not be able to expand its current range of services.
The FCA also outlined various prohibited services, including facilitating peer-to-peer transactions, getting involved with initial coin offerings, providing staking services and participating in DeFi activities such as crypto asset lending and borrowing.
Furthermore, PayPal UK would not be allowed to operate a machine that utilizes an automated process to exchange cryptoassets for money or money for cryptoassets.
This latest development comes after PayPal paused its crypto purchase option in the UK in August due to FCA’s rules. The restrictions will stay in place until 2024.
PayPal registered with the FCA after the UK Treasury published its final proposals for future regulation of crypto asset activity earlier this week. The proposal details the UK government’s plan to regulate various cryptocurrency activities in the country.
