By Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – Crypto broker CoinBurp has no authorisation for a planned launch of its $BURP token and initial exchange offering on Monday, July 26, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Sunday in the latest crack down on crypto trading.
CoinBurp said last week it had raised $6 million to build a platform for buying and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital assets that are attracting interest from some investors but also scrutiny from regulators worried about the risks.
“The firm does not yet hold full FCA registration under the money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds (information on the payer) regulations … but has submitted an application for the FCA for registration,” the FCA said in a statement.
Although CoinBurp is listed on the FCA’s temporary registration register, this does not allow any firm to claim to be registered or authorised by the FCA, the watchdog said.
“Whilst firms with this status can continue to trade, such firms and their personnel have not yet been assessed as fit and proper, and we have not yet determined their application for the purposes of the money laundering regulations,” the FCA said.
CoinBurp, which could not be immediately reached for comment, says on its website that “$BURP is coming! Be the first to know when we launch our very own utility and governance token.”
“Building this product means that CoinBurp – as a regulated broker – will have NFTs listed on the market and can be made available for investors in large and small quantities,” it said in a press statement on Friday.
The FCA statement is the latest in the watchdog’s warnings to consumers they could lose all money in crypto assets.
In June, the FCA said that Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, cannot conduct any regulated activity and issued a warning to consumers about the platform, which has since come under growing regulatory scrutiny globally.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)
