The FCA opens its crypto gateway, and a firm's standing in 2027 turns on whether it applies by February

What happened

The Financial Conduct Authority opened applications for authorisation from crypto firms on 30 September 2026. The window closes on 28 February 2027, and the new regime comes into force on 25 October 2027. Applications go through the FCA's Connect system, and the FCA offers free pre-application meetings, though it says it "will reject requests for pre-application meetings that aren't accompanied by meaningful supporting information". The release puts the policy in two sentences: "Authorisation is not automatic", and firms that cannot show the necessary standards "will not be authorised to operate in the UK market". Dominic Cashman, the FCA's director of authorisation, said: "Firms can now apply for authorisation and start preparing for regulation." The operative rules are on the FCA's page on how the gateway will operate. Firms registered under the Money Laundering Regulations, which is how UK crypto firms have been supervised until now, "should note that there will be no automatic conversion" and must secure authorisation under the Financial Services and Markets Act. Firms already authorised for other activities must vary their permissions.

Why it matters

The window decides who can compete in the UK market when the regime starts, and on what terms. The FCA's page sets out three positions. A firm that applies by 28 February and has not been decided by 25 October 2027 falls under a saving provision that lets it "continue to provide cryptoasset services until its application has been finally determined", including, the release says, "taking on new business". A firm that applies after the window but before commencement enters a transitional provision, where it may only perform contracts it already has: it cannot "enter into new contracts with existing UK customers or enter into new contracts with new UK customers". A firm that does not apply must run off its UK business before the regime begins. So the gap between the saving and transitional provisions is the value of a February application. A firm that misses it can keep its existing contracts but cannot sign new customers while it waits, and the FCA says it "will not expedite" a late application to make up the time. The regime's market structure is therefore largely set eight months before it starts. The TRADE sets the timing against the EU, where ESMA told crypto-asset service providers not authorised by 1 July 2026 to stop onboarding clients and exit in an orderly way.

What is not settled

Neither the release nor the gateway page says how many firms are expected to apply or how long a determination will take. The FCA says only that it expects to determine applications made in the window before the regime starts. How firms will notify the FCA that they are relying on the saving provision is to be set out "in due course" in a direction. CoinDesk says more than 60 firms registered under the anti-money-laundering regime may have a head start; that is CoinDesk's figure, and the FCA's page is plain that for those firms there will be "no automatic conversion". CoinDesk also writes that firms have until February "to register". The FCA's word is apply, and an application in the window buys time to keep trading, not a permission. Both reports restate the release; neither adds a figure the FCA did not publish except CoinDesk's count, and no outlet outside the trade press was found to have run the story.