While consumers in the U.S. now have much easier access to BTC via the newly approved BTC Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) U.K. consumers may have to wait a while to be able to participate.
Strict new rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority back in 2022 mean that firms cannot simply cut and paste the U.S. ETFs for the U.K. market, they simply wouldn't be approved because they lack sufficient documentation to pass the FCA's consumer protection tests.
Under these rules any firm offering an investment product needs to make sure they are delivering good outcomes for their customers across four dimensions....
- products and services
- price and value
- consumer understanding
- consumer support
You can see why firms may struggle to get approval for BTC funds given the above criteria... the FCA regards the 'product' BTC as a bit shady, linked to criminal activities, the price is volatile, so it's not going to be clear year on year that value is being delivered, but the real rub is consumer understanding.... making sure consumers understand what they are investing in!
I'm not even sure what compliant documentation would look like, but based on the above rules investment firms have been pulling funds which involve exposure to risker stocks, for example, let alone trying to introduce new ones which include crypto.
Time for the UK to wake up...?
An estimated 5 million Britons already hold crypto assets, and Rishi Sunak apparently wants to the UK to be a global crypto hub, but the FCA seems to want to take us the opposite direction.
This just seems to be another way in which the U.K. is falling behind!!!
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
