UK authorities make changes to the crypto-business registration fee structure

• Crypto firms with net income less than £250,000 will only pay £2,000 and the ones above the income limit will pay £10,000.
• The objections made by smaller firms when the FCA first proposed the £5,000 fees have resulted in this change.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has amended the registration fee that it will be charging crypto firms. Initially, it had proposed a fixed fee of £5,000 (~$6,500) for all firms. As per the latest fee structure, crypto companies with a net income of less than £250,000 will only pay £2,000. Companies with a net income of over £250,000 will be paying £10,000. 

Feedback from the UK’s crypto industry is what seemed to have prompted the amendment. During a consultation in October, the objections made by smaller firms when the FCA first proposed the £5,000 fees have resulted in this change. The FCA proposed the fees based on the cost it would bear to register the estimated 80 potential applications.

In October, the FCA wrote:

We estimate the total cost of this process at approximately £400,000 and we are aware of some 80 potential applicants. We accordingly propose to set the registration fee at £5,000.

Though the agency is willing to give small firms a chance, it has to make up for the money lost somewhere. As a result, the fee paid by bigger companies has increased by a considerable margin. According to an earlier BeInCrypto report, FCA will be playing a major role in the regulation of the crypto industry from now on. It will be directing initiatives that are aimed at eliminating money laundering and terrorist financing using digital assets under The Economic Crime Plan 2019-22.

The agency also requires all crypto firms to register with it. It has set a deadline of January 2021, which will be requiring the companies to submit applications by June 2020.