Payments Daily · Thursday, October 1, 2026Daily
PAY.NEWS
FCA Opens Applications for Cryptoasset Firm Regulation
The UK FCA announced that cryptoasset firms can apply for authorization. Firms intending to continue operating must apply by 28 February 2027. The regulation will cover areas including consumer protection, client assets, and market integrity. Stripe has made OUSD its default stablecoin and integrated it with payment products including Treasury, Issuing, and Global Payouts.
Stablecoins & On-chain
Stripe BlogFirst partyStripe Makes OUSD Its Default Stablecoin and Integrates It with Multiple Payment Products
Stripe announced support for OUSD across its products and made OUSD the default stablecoin configuration. Businesses can use Treasury to receive, hold, send, and spend OUSD, and can also use products including Issuing, Global Payouts, Crypto Onramp, and Payments. OUSD is supported on Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Tempo. Stripe will continue to allow users to use other stablecoins.
Regulation & Compliance
FCA Opens Regulatory Authorization Applications for Cryptoasset Firms
The FCA announced that cryptoasset firms can apply for authorization starting today. For the first time, the UK will bring cryptoasset firms operating locally under full FCA supervision, covering consumer protection, safeguarding of client assets, market integrity, and financial resilience. Firms intending to continue operating in the UK should apply by 28 February 2027. The new regulatory regime will take effect on 25 October 2027. Authorization is not automatic, and firms must demonstrate that they meet FCA requirements.
FCA Investigates Euro Exchange Securities UK Ltd
The FCA is investigating whether Euro Exchange Securities UK Ltd may have breached the MLRs between 1 February 2020 and 4 June 2026. The investigation concerns whether it adequately assessed money-laundering risks and established controls for customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, internal governance, record-keeping, and reporting escalation. The FCA had previously required the company to cease regulated electronic money and payment services and, through the courts, appointed an interim manager and a special manager. The FCA stated that the investigation has not yet reached a conclusion.
FCA to Take Over AML Supervision of 60,000 Entities in the Legal and Accounting Sectors by the End of 2028
The FCA will begin overseeing AML compliance for 60,000 entities in the legal and accounting sectors at the end of 2028 and has pledged to adopt a risk- and intelligence-led approach to reduce unnecessary burdens on compliant firms. The FCA said its intelligence system can process more than 56 million records every day and that it will use technology to identify high-risk firms earlier. The agency also said it would focus resources on higher-risk financial crime activities by raising the threshold for suspicious activity reports to £3,000 and reducing duplicative requirements.
FCA and Partner Agencies Raid 3 Suspected Illegal Peer-to-Peer Crypto Trading Locations in London
The FCA, HMRC, and the Metropolitan Police took action at 3 locations in London suspected of facilitating illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading and issued cease-and-desist letters to all the locations, requiring them to stop the suspected illegal crypto businesses. Conducting peer-to-peer crypto trading commercially in the UK requires appropriate registration, and there are currently no FCA-registered peer-to-peer crypto businesses operating. The action was conducted on 10 September 2026 under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017.
FCA Outlines Regulatory Direction for Next-Generation Market Infrastructure: From Experimentation to Scaled Adoption
FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi said at a TheCityUK dinner that the UK must move from experimentation to adoption and create the conditions for emerging technologies such as tokenization to scale safely in wholesale markets. The FCA has authorized HSBC Orion to provide real-time digital securities custody services, plans to finalize the stablecoin regime by the summer, and is working with the Bank of England to publish a tokenization roadmap while consulting on protection rules for related tokenized investment assets.