Under the Treasury’s proposed instrument, if your exchange isn’t FCA authorised when the UK cryptoasset regime commences on 25 October 2027, what happens to your crypto depends on whether the firm applied. Applied in the window: it can keep serving you until the FCA decides. Applied late or refused: existing contracts only. Never applied: it must wind down and leave the UK market first.
That is the short version, from the FCA’s own pages.
Why no exchange is FCA authorised for crypto yet
Per the FCA’s gateway page, the regulator published its final rules and guidance on 30 June 2026, and those rules “will apply to all cryptoasset firms who have been granted permission to operate under FSMA on or after 25 October 2027”. The FCA expects the application period to open on 30 September 2026 and close on 28 February 2027, as set out in its direction; applications cannot be filed before it opens, so no exchange can hold FSMA crypto authorisation today.
That gap matters: at least one widely syndicated explainer this July was reported to describe named exchanges as “fully authorised” in the UK for crypto — a claim the timeline above supports for no firm. What a UK-facing exchange can hold today is MLR registration (anti-money-laundering supervision, nothing more) or, for other activities such as e-money, FSMA authorisation. MLR-registered firms “should note that there will be no automatic conversion” to FSMA authorisation.
The three doors after commencement
We read the FCA’s gateway page (updated 8 July 2026) and transitional-provision page (updated 24 August 2026) on 11 September 2026. Between them they describe three states a firm can be in once the regime commences.
| Door | What the firm did | What it may do after 25 October 2027 | New contracts with you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| One: saving provision | Applied inside the window; FCA has not finally determined the application | Continue to provide cryptoasset services | Yes, until final determination |
| Two: transitional provision | Applied outside the window, or applied and was refused or withdrew | Only what is necessary to perform contracts entered into before it entered the provision | No, with existing or new UK customers |
| Three: no application | Did not apply, or filed an incomplete application and never resubmitted | Not eligible for either provision | Not after commencement |
Door one. The Treasury’s instrument, per the FCA, “includes a saving provision that will allow the firm to continue to provide cryptoasset services until its application has been finally determined” — including while a refusal is referred to the Upper Tribunal. Nothing visibly changes for you while the firm waits. The notification duty runs to the regulator, not to you; we found no published duty for the firm to tell its customers, so if you want to know, ask.
Door two. Per the FCA’s transitional-provision page, an eligible firm gets an exemption “only to the extent necessary for the performance of a pre-existing contract entered into before the firm entered the transitional provision”, and “will not be able to enter into new contracts with existing UK customers, or enter into new contracts with new UK customers”. HM Treasury’s policy note frames this as a wind-down “over a maximum two-year period”, which the FCA may shorten per firm; no page we read publishes an end date, so two years from 25 October 2027 is arithmetic, not a deadline. It speaks of contracts, not orders, and in the text we could open it says nothing about customer withdrawals.
Door three. Firms that never apply, or whose incomplete application is never resubmitted, are ineligible for either provision. The FCA says such a firm “will need to run-off its UK business in an orderly way and exit the UK market before the full cryptoasset regime goes live” — before the regime starts, not after.
Can I still use my exchange after October 2027?
It depends on which door the firm ends up in, and no list of applicants appeared on the FCA pages we read. This desk has not run per-firm register checks, so there is no named-firm status table here; what we can point to is each exchange’s own UK disclosure, which is what our Binance review was about — the footer names the entity you contract with. Re-read it after 30 September.
Search the firm’s legal name on the FCA’s Financial Services Register and note what it says: registered, authorised, and for what — the same register check that matters when an exchange asks you for tax details as part of its own compliance obligations. Your UK tax reporting obligations are separate and don’t change if a firm exits; see our piece on HMRC’s first crypto gains numbers for what that reporting actually covers.
One caveat: the FCA’s transitional page still describes the Treasury as “proposing” the provision. We have not read a made instrument, and the doors could be re-hung before October 2027.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if my crypto exchange is not FCA registered? Registration and authorisation are different things. Today a UK cryptoasset firm is registered under the Money Laundering Regulations; from 25 October 2027 it will need FSMA authorisation instead, and the FCA says there is no automatic conversion. If a firm does not appear on the Financial Services Register at all, its own UK disclosure is all you have.
Do UK crypto firms have to reapply for FCA authorisation? Yes, in effect. Per the FCA’s gateway page, firms registered under the Money Laundering Regulations must secure authorisation under FSMA, with no automatic conversion, and firms already FSMA-authorised for other activities must apply to vary their permissions. The FCA expects to accept applications between 30 September 2026 and 28 February 2027.
When does the FCA crypto licensing gateway open? The FCA says it expects the application period to open on 30 September 2026 and close on 28 February 2027, as set out in its direction. The window must be at least 28 days long and close at least 28 days before commencement, which is 25 October 2027, the date from which the FCA’s final rules apply.
Can an unauthorised crypto firm still serve existing UK customers? After 25 October 2027 it depends on the door. A firm that applied inside the window and is awaiting a final decision may keep providing services under the saving provision. A firm in the transitional provision may only perform contracts made before it entered, with no new contracts for existing or new UK customers. A firm that never applied should have exited already.
A door into the regime is not a door into a compensation scheme. Crypto assets are high risk and largely unprotected by FSCS, and an authorised firm can still fail. Which exchange you use is your call; the risk is yours.