Cryptocurrency ownership is increasing in the UK, but regulatory clarity and risk awareness are struggling to keep up, according to new findings from the Financial Conduct Authority.
According to the research, 12% of UK adults now own cryptocurrency, up from 10% in previous findings, while awareness of cryptocurrency reached 93%, up from 91%.
The average value of crypto holdings has grown to £1,842 from £1,595.
The findings come as bitcoin, the first and largest of the ten of thousands of cryptocurrencies on the market, surged to all-time highs last week.
Despite this growth, consumer understanding remains a concern, as a third of respondents mistakenly believed they could seek recourse with the FCA in the event of financial losses.
Crypto remains largely unregulated by the financial watchdog, although the FCA has conducted consultations in hopes of establishing a regulatory roadmap.
The FCA recently convened a roundtable with more than 100 organisations, including crypto exchanges, banks and blockchain analytics companies, together with regulatory authorities like the Treasury and the Bank of England.
Key topics included admissions and disclosures, market abuse and trading platform frameworks.
Participants supported an industry-led admissions and disclosures regime with clear distinctions between retail and wholesale for areas including incorporation, disclosures and customer protections, product choice and options, risk management and alignment with existing traditional finance rules.
“While there is still work to be done, I’m pleased to be able to say that we’re already making progress in some of the areas we discussed during these roundtables,” said the FCA.
“For example, we’re leading the implementation of international crypto regulatory standards via our leading role in the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
“We’re also already working with industry and the Treasury to help shape an industry-led market-abuse information sharing platform.”