Crypto exchange Gemini calls on UK firms to get serious about regulation
Those in the crypto space need to engage proactively with regulators to help bring them up to speed according to crypto exchange, Gemini.
At the Token2049 conference in London leading voices from the digital asset industry debated the best way to engage with regulation.
“We’re in this crypto landscape now, it’s 12 odd years old, firms need to get a little bit more serious about how they engage with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),” said Blair Halliday, the UK lead at Gemini, a crypto exchange with a coveted license from the UK’s financial watchdog.
“Its really important that we stand up and accept that we have a responsibility to help them,” he added, saying that the ultimate goal of compliance policies should be “making crypto valuable to everyone and ensuring it is understood by everybody.”
Not everyone on the panel took such a favourable view of regulation. Sendi Young, the Managing Director of Ripple, Europe, urged national regulators to take an open approach to crypto warning that those who did not would “stifle innovation.”
“I think that’s really important to allow innovation to flourish while still protecting consumers,” she said, putting the onus on the crypto industry to be “very proactive” about guiding policy.
The UK approach
According to Young the UK is part of a progressive bloc of countries, including Japan and Singapore, which are introducing “thoughtful regulation” to help bring clarity to the crypto space.
However, Halliday questioned whether UK firms take their responsibility to work with regulators seriously enough stressing that an FCA license is a privilege and not a guarantee.
Gemini, the world’s fourteenth largest exchange by trade volume was recently awarded the Digital Asset Exchange Platform Award at the Crypto A.M. awards with judges praising the platform’s “security first” mentality.
Read more: Crypto regulation in the UK: Assessing opportunity through the looking glass