Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned the sale of crypto-derivatives to retail consumers. It has made rules banning the sale, marketing and distribution to all retail consumers of any derivatives (i.e. contract for difference – CFDs, options and futures) and ETNs that reference unregulated transferable cryptoassets by firms acting in, or from, the UK.
According to the FCA, these products are ill-suited for retail consumers due to the harm they pose. “Significant price volatility, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places retail consumers at a high risk of suffering losses from trading crypto-derivatives. We have evidence of this happening on a significant scale. The ban provides an appropriate level of protection,” says Sheldon Mills, interim Executive Director of Strategy & Competition at the FCA in a statement.