The 24-hour cooling-off period for crypto in the UK is a Financial Conduct Authority rule, in force since 8 October 2023, under which a firm marketing cryptoassets cannot put a direct offer to invest in front of a first-time investor with that firm until 24 hours have passed and the customer has reconfirmed their interest.
What the 24-hour cooling-off period for crypto in the UK actually requires
The rule belongs to the FCA’s financial-promotions regime for cryptoassets, set out in policy statement PS23/6. The regulator’s landing page for it, read by this desk on 14 September 2026, lists the package as clear risk warnings, a ban on incentives to invest, positive frictions, client categorisation and appropriateness assessments. The cooling-off is one of the positive frictions.
The FCA’s notice announcing the rules, read the same day, says firms marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers must introduce a cooling-off period for first-time investors from 8 October 2023, and that refer-a-friend bonuses are banned.
The rule sits in the Handbook at COBS 4.12A. Its purpose paragraph, dated 2 April 2024, says the section requires a prescribed risk warning on any promotion of a restricted mass market investment, restricts direct offer financial promotions except where certain conditions are satisfied, and forbids offering a retail client any incentive. The page states the section was last updated on 23 October 2025 and lists a future version dated 25 October 2027; the Handbook page itself does not say what that future version changes. For more on the separate authorisation regime taking shape alongside these promotion rules, see our piece on the FCA gateway. Whatever the 2027 date turns out to mark, the cooling-off is not a future protection but one already in force.
The paragraph of COBS 4.12A carrying the 24-hour figure sits beyond the window a plain fetch returns; the number here comes from CoinJar’s page, which also spells out the reconfirmation step; the FCA’s notice, as read, announces the cooling-off without stating its length.
What the platforms say they do
CoinJar’s learn page, fact-checked on 1 May 2025 and read by this desk on 14 September 2026, says a UK customer creating a new account must wait 24 hours before depositing, trading or withdrawing. That is broader than the promotions rule — a deposit is not a direct offer, and a withdrawal certainly is not. It is the firm’s implementation choice, presented as the regulation.
Kraken’s page on changes for UK-resident clients, last updated 8 August 2025, was served to this desk in Bengali and read by translation. It describes an assessment questionnaire that new and existing UK retail clients must complete, with a second failed attempt locking a further try for 24 hours. It also says the firm’s affiliate and referral programmes are no longer available to UK residents. The page we read does not describe a sign-up cooling-off; that is a statement about one page, not about Kraken’s flow.
Nothing here asserts what Coinbase, Uphold or Gemini do at sign-up, because their pages did not open; a closed page is not evidence of absence.
Questions readers ask
Why do I have to wait 24 hours to buy crypto in the UK?
Because the FCA’s cryptoasset promotion rules, in force since 8 October 2023, require a cooling-off period for first-time investors with a firm, so that a new buyer has time to weigh the risk before acting on an offer. CoinJar, for one, builds the delay into sign-up, which is why a fresh account there cannot trade on day one.
Does the 24-hour cooling-off period apply to every crypto purchase?
No. On the FCA’s and CoinJar’s descriptions it applies to a first-time investor with a firm, so it is a once-per-platform delay at the start of the relationship, not a wait before every trade. A second platform will impose it again, because there you are a first-time investor too.
Can I deposit money during the cooling-off period?
That depends on the platform, not the rule. The rule text concerns when a firm may put a direct offer in front of you. CoinJar’s own page says a new UK customer cannot deposit, trade or withdraw for 24 hours after creating the account. Other operators’ pages did not open to this desk, so check yours.
Bottom line
The cooling-off is a promotions rule with a specific trigger — a first-time investor, a direct offer — that a platform such as CoinJar has generalised into a day-one freeze. For how one of those platforms prices the trade you eventually make, see our CoinJar review; for the questionnaire side of the same package, Kraken through a UK lens.
The usual caveat, and not a formality: cryptoassets remain high risk, no compensation scheme stands behind them, nothing here recommends opening an account anywhere, and the decision — with the loss, if there is one — is yours.