Alder leaves a legacy of mixed crypto regulations in Hong Kong that saw crypto exchange FTX depart the city and retail investors largely excluded.

Ashley Alder, the CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has been appointed to head the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is expected to start in January 2023.
Alder, a former lawyer, has been the head of the SFC since October 2011, overseeing the introduction of the territory’s digital assets rules.

He will become chair of the FCA, working with CEO Nikhil Rathi. The FCA became the U.K.’s authority for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism in 2020, bringing crypto companies within its remit.

While Hong Kong was considered one of the world’s freest economies for traditional finance, the same can’t be said for crypto.

Industry stakeholders that have previously spoken to CoinDesk are wary about the city’s long-term potential with China’s growing influence.

In addition, strict licensing rules for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) in Hong Kong would exclude all retail investors from the asset class.

Crypto executives in the industry have complained about these rules, and the difficulty in working with the SFC and Hong Kong’s other financial regulators on digital assets.

Last summer FTX moved its headquarters out of Hong Kong citing unfavorable regulations and COVID-19 quarantine requirements.

The post Hong Kong Regulator Ashley Alder to Head UK Financial Supervisor appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The cryptocurrency exchange is also registered with regulators in Austria, France, Italy and Sweden.

Austrian cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda is expanding to Spain, after registering as a virtual currency exchange and digital asset custody service provider in the country.

The company was officially entered into the Bank of Spain’s registry for crypto firms on June 16, according to the bank’s official website, and Bitpanda announced the news on Tuesday.

Bank of Spain opened its registry for crypto service providers back in October 2021, and Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me became the first company to be added to the registry in February this year.

The European Union (EU) is planning to set up a license that would allow crypto firms regulated in one EU country to operate in others under its upcoming Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill. The MiCA framework is in the final stage of the EU’s legislative process.

But Bipanda, which had a valuation of around $4.1 billion as of August 2021, is not waiting around for the EU license to kick in, successfully registering in virtual asset service provider registries in both Italy and Sweden earlier this year. It registered with French securities regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in 2020.

The firm’s regulatory efforts have not come without incident. In February, Bitpanda announced the acquisition of U.K. crypto custody platform Trustology. On the same day the announcement was made, the U.K. financial conduct authority (FCA) warned it was watching the acquisition closely. At the time of the announcement, Trustology was registered under the FCA’s Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) registry, but according to the FCA that was not enough.

“The MLRs do not include any provisions that allow the FCA to assess the fitness and propriety of beneficial owners or changes in control before a transaction is completed,” the FCA said in its February statement.

Bitpanda later told Bloomberg the FCA’s statement was expected, and that it has a goodrapport with the regulator.

In a Monday announcement, the firm said it remains committed to achieving regulatory status in countries, particularly in light of the recent turbulence in crypto markets. Crypto markets have recorded at least $7 billion in liquidations as of Monday, while over the weekend the price of bitcoin (BTC) fell below $20,000 for the first time since December 2020.

“As recent market developments have shown, where you buy your digital assets matters and we are going to always be prioritizing the safety of our community, as we are working relentlessly to build the best and the safest investment platform in Europe and beyond,” Bitpanda co-founder and co-CEO Eric Demuth said in a press statement.

The post European Crypto Unicorn Bitpanda Is Now Regulated in Spain appeared first on Crypto Insider.