Digital asset exchange Bybit mulls a potential exit from the UK as new rules from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) swing into effect on Oct 8.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou explained that the new marketing rules set to be enforced in a few weeks will tighten the market, possibly forcing the firm off the UK market.
“We do see regulation becoming more strict. Most likely, we’ll have to retreat in many countries. I think the UK, we’ll have to exit very soon. We recently exited France.”
Zhou added that the new amendment has changed the ecosystem around financial solicitation to the extent that it makes it impossible to practice reverse solicitation, a practice most firms adopted to maneuver the previous laws.
“FCA has explicitly contacted all the major players: us, OKX, Binance, everyone — and asked what our plan is to deal with this new law. And the new law is that if you use English as a language, they will see you as trying to solicit their users, so you cannot claim that you are in reverse solicitation. Everyone is in trouble. So everyone is thinking of plans for how to deal with this new law.”
The FCA has moved to regulate crypto investments through several policies that industry players have described as harmful to the growth of the market.
For the FCA, the new rules seek to protect the average investor as it makes crypto advertising “clear, fair and not misleading, labeled with prominent risk warnings and must not inappropriately incentivize people to invest.”
The new crypto marketing rules place a ban on “refer a friend” bonuses from Oct 8 including a cool-off period for first-time investors.
This is a developing story
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