- The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned about Poloniex’s unauthorized operation
- The FCA has warned UK citizens not to use the exchange because it is promoting financial services in the UK without authorization
- Poloniex is one of 138 crypto firms that were added to the FCA’s warning list in October
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning about Poloniex for operating without proper authorization. The FCA’s action is evidence of it clamping down on crypto-handling entities, most notably those based in the UK, although with Poloniex being based in the Seychelles it has no jurisdiction over it. In its warning, the FCA highlighted that companies and individuals are prohibited from promoting financial services in the UK without proper authorization, emphasizing that dealing with unauthorized entities means users cannot rely on financial law protection.
FCA: Avoid Dealing with Poloniex
Established in 2013 and later acquired by Circle in 2018, Poloniex has maintained its status as a popular exchange, with $800 million worth of trading conducted on a daily basis. In its warning, the FCA altered potential users to the fact that Poliniex is “promoting financial services or products without our permission” and warned anyone considering it that they should “avoid dealing with this firm.”
Poloniex is now one of 12,753 firms on the FCA’s warning list, a list that has in the past featured FTX and Binance, both of which were operating in the UK without a license at the time; Binance has since taken enough steps to allow it to be removed from the list while FTX famously collapsed, bearing out the FCA’s warning.
The FCA has also previously added Polioniex investor Justin Sun’s HTX and KuCoin to the list, with these firms among 138 cryptocurrency firms added in one fell swoop in October when new regulations kicked in.
Poloniex is still recovering from a November hack that saw over $100 million worth of tokens stolen from the exchange.
