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The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed that almost 90% of cryptocurrency firms applying for registration in the past year failed to meet the necessary standards. According to the FCA's 2024 annual report, the majority of these applications were rejected or withdrawn due to inadequate fraud protection and money laundering protocols.

The report highlighted that over 87% of crypto registrations were either withdrawn, rejected, or refused because of insufficient controls against money laundering. Of the 35 applications submitted by crypto firms over the last 12 months, only four were approved by the FCA. Meanwhile, 15 applications were withdrawn, and nine were outright rejected.

In a separate feedback statement, the FCA explained: "We have rejected submissions that didn’t include key components necessary for us to carry out an assessment, or the poor quality of key components meant the submission was invalid."

The FCA has also implemented a new "financial promotion perimeter" for crypto advertising as of June 2023. This initiative aims to ensure that cryptocurrency advertisements in the UK are clear, fair, and not misleading to consumers.

The regulator noted a growing awareness among the UK public regarding potential crypto scams. In the past year, 63% of consumers who called to report a scam did so before they had invested in the project, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.