FCA cryptoasset gateway opens against a February 28 deadline

The Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset gateway is a filing window, not a conversion of a money-laundering registration into permission to trade. A firm that files inside it can keep operating under regulation 53 after full commencement. A firm that files outside it cannot.

The gateway page, updated on September 22, 2026, says firms can apply from 7am on September 30, 2026, and that the period is expected to close on February 28, 2027. The direction under regulation 52 times that period from 9:00am to 11:59pm. Regulation 1(2) of Statutory Instrument 2026/102 starts the regime on October 25, 2027. Which clock a filing hits is what decides who may still take on UK customers.

Key facts

• Connect opens for applications at 7am on September 30, 2026. The page expects the period to close on February 28, 2027. Source: FCA gateway page, updated September 22, 2026.
• The direction of February 20, 2026 sets the relevant application period from 9:00am on September 30, 2026 to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027, a span of 151 days. Source: regulation 52 direction.
• The statute’s floor is 28 days, closing at least 28 days before full commencement. October 25, 2027 is 239 days after February 28, 2027. Source: regulations 52 and 1(2).
• Full commencement is October 25, 2027. The Regulations were made on February 4, 2026. The early start, 21 days after making, covers rules and applications, not the new activities. Source: regulation 1.
• An in-window application that is undecided, or refused but open to review, can use regulation 53, including for an overseas group company, until that chapter’s two-year sunset. Source: regulation 53.
• Anyone else who is still unauthorised on October 25, 2027 has either a regulation 56 run-off of existing contracts or, if they never applied, a section 19 problem. Source: gateway page; regulations 55 and 56.
• On July 25, 2024 the FCA announced a £3,503,546 penalty against CB Payments Limited. Source: FCA press release.

Methodology and sources

The 7am line and the expected close come from the gateway page updated on September 22, 2026. The statutory period is the February 20, 2026 direction under regulation 52. Full commencement is regulation 1(2), and the instrument was made on February 4, 2026. Saving and run-off rules are regulations 53, 55 and 56. Enforcement is the FCA’s July 25, 2024 press release on CB Payments Limited. Comparators are MiCA Articles 143(3) and 111, Hong Kong Cap. 615 section 53ZRD, and Singapore’s Payment Services Act 2019 section 5, as at September 30, 2026.

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This is the Part 7 timetable. It is not the FCA’s perimeter guidance of September 16, 2026, and it is not the FCA’s work on contracts-for-difference permissions. Regulation 53 attaches to the relevant application period in the direction. The 7am sentence says when the form is on Connect. This article does not guess how a filing in the two hours between those times will be treated.

What the statute and the direction actually require

Regulation 52 demands a direction of at least 28 days, ending at least 28 days before full commencement. The FCA may amend it only to extend it. The February 20, 2026 direction sets 9:00am on September 30, 2026 to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027. The gateway page says 7am. The linked PDF does not.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset gateway is the period in which a firm applies for permission for a new cryptoasset regulated activity, or varies a permission it already holds. The gateway page of September 22, 2026 says firms can apply from 7am on September 30, 2026, with the period expected to close on February 28, 2027. The direction of February 20, 2026, under regulation 52, sets the relevant application period from 9:00am that day to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027. Regulation 1(2) fixes full commencement on October 25, 2027. Regulation 53 applies where the application was made in that period and is undecided, or refused but open to review, and the FCA has not moved the firm into the transitional chapter. The applicant and an overseas person in the same group are then treated, for that activity, as if Parts 3 to 6 had not come into force. Regulation 56 limits everyone else who did apply to a pre-existing contract.

There is no automatic conversion from the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs), nor from a payments or e-money permission. A firm already authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) applies to vary, and still needs the relevant application period for regulation 53. The final rules of June 30, 2026 are the standards, not this timetable.

Regulation 53 covers a refusal still before the Upper Tribunal, unless the FCA uses regulation 55(3) to move the firm to the transitional chapter for crime, consumers or its objectives. Use of the saving provision must be notified after commencement. The format is still “in due course.” Regulation 55 puts late, failed and withdrawn applicants onto regulation 56, an exemption from section 19 or section 20 only for a pre-existing contract. A firm that never applies must run off before October 25, 2027. Section 23(1) makes breach of the general prohibition criminal, up to two years or a fine on indictment.

How four licensing clocks compare

Sources: SI 2026/102, regulation 1; FCA direction, February 20, 2026; Regulation (EU) 2023/1114; ESMA on MiCA; Hong Kong Cap. 615; Payment Services Act 2019; FSMA section 23. Last updated: September 30, 2026.

Four licensing clocks are not the same clock. Article 143(3) of MiCA let a provider lawfully active before December 30, 2024 continue until July 1, 2026, or until an Article 63 authorisation was granted or refused, whichever was sooner, and a member state could shorten that period. ESMA describes that clause as grandfathering, and it has ended. Hong Kong’s section 53ZRD has, since June 1, 2023, made an unlicensed virtual-asset service an offence punishable on indictment by HK$5 million and seven years’ imprisonment. Singapore’s section 5 has, since January 28, 2020, required a licence for a digital payment token business, with a firm-level fine of up to S$250,000 under section 5(3). Only the UK window in this set is still open, and only a filing inside the relevant application period unlocks regulation 53. There is no leftover grandfathering for a UK firm that misses February 28, 2027.

A MiCA permission is not a Part 4A permission. The FCA’s refusal to copy MiCA and the close of EU grandfathering on July 1, 2026 leave a group authorised in one market and a new applicant in the other. Hong Kong’s dealer and custodian work extends a regime already in force. Regulation 53(2) is the narrow concession: an overseas group company of an in-window applicant is covered for the activity applied for. Regulation 56 does not let a late filer sign new UK customers.

"This is a significant moment for crypto regulation in the UK. We’ve created a framework that doesn’t force firms to choose between regulatory certainty and room to innovate – this regime means they can have both in a stable, competitive home to build and grow. For consumers, it means firms will be held to similar standards to other financial providers, though we can’t regulate away risk."

— David Geale, executive director of payments and digital finance, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA press release, June 30, 2026)

A firm that files on March 1, 2027, and is still unauthorised on October 25, 2027, is in regulation 56. New UK business is off the table. The quote does not say otherwise.

What the FCA has already fined at the fiat door

The closest penalty sits under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. On July 25, 2024 the FCA announced a £3,503,546 fine on CB Payments Limited (CBPL), in the Coinbase group. CBPL did not execute cryptoasset trades. It “acts as a gateway for customers to trade cryptoassets via other entities within the Coinbase Group.” In October 2020 it accepted a voluntary requirement: no new high-risk customers until its financial-crime controls were fixed.

The FCA says CBPL then onboarded or served 13,416 high-risk customers. About 31% of them deposited around $24.9 million, used for cryptoasset transactions of about $226 million elsewhere in the group. Controls failed in design, testing, implementation and monitoring, including the routes by which a customer could be onboarded. Breaches went undiscovered for almost two years. Settlement brought a 30% discount. The FCA called it the first use of these e-money enforcement powers.

That is the gateway page’s pattern: an e-money firm, a payment firm or an MLR-registered company whose status will not convert. CBPL was already permitted and still broke a restriction it had signed. Regulation 53 keeps an activity going while the FCA decides. It does not grant the application.

What this means for firms, venues and compliance teams

An exchange whose only UK status is an MLR registration needs a Part 4A permission, or regulation 53 or 56, on October 25, 2027. Regulation 53 requires a filing in the relevant application period. The FCA will reject a pre-application support service (PASS) request without a real account of the model, the customers and the activities. PASS is free and not advice, and the form notes are best endeavours, not guidance. A financial data template still has to be filed.

A broker or fund manager that already holds Part 4A permission applies to vary. The variation has to fall inside the relevant application period if the firm wants regulation 53 for a new activity. An existing licence for other business is not that shelter, and nor does a custodian’s permission expand by silence if safeguarding is a new activity. Filing in March 2027 because the firm is already authorised is how it becomes a regulation 56 firm.

Payment and e-money firms are the CBPL shape: the gateway page says those permissions do not convert. Regulation 53(2) helps an overseas group company only where the UK applicant filed in the window, and only for the activity in the application. Compliance teams have to produce that activity analysis before PASS will take the meeting. The FCA may ask for the advice behind it. The notice that a firm has entered or left the saving provision still has no published format.

"The money laundering risks associated with crypto are obvious and firms must take them seriously. Firms like CBPL that enable crypto trading need to have strong financial crime controls. CBPL's controls had significant weaknesses and the FCA told it so, which is why the requirements were needed. CPBL, however, repeatedly breached those requirements. This increased the risk that criminals could use CBPL to launder the proceeds of crime. We will not tolerate such laxity, which jeopardises the integrity of our markets."

— Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA press release, July 25, 2024)

The release even prints the firm’s initials once as “CPBL.” The record underneath is the point: this gateway is an authorisation, not a new cover sheet on a registration.

What is still open before October 25, 2027

Regulation 52(3) lets the FCA extend the relevant application period. It does not let a reader assume an extension that has not been made. The direction linked from the gateway page on this reading is still the February 20, 2026 text: 9:00am on September 30, 2026 to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027. The page’s 7am line has not been written into it.

Both chapters sunset. Regulation 53(3) ends the saving provision at the end of the two-year period beginning with full commencement. Regulation 55(9) does the same for the transitional chapter. A file still open in 2028, or a Tribunal reference still live, does not keep the chapter going past that formula. The direction on how to notify use of the saving provision is still “in due course.” An information session is not a decision.

A file after February 28, 2027 is lawful, and it will not be sped up. Undecided at commencement, the firm is in regulation 56. A firm that never applies must finish its UK run-off before October 25, 2027. The June 30, 2026 rules attach to that date, not to the morning Connect opens. Regulation 1(3) let the FCA write rules and take applications. It did not start the new activities early.

TL;DR

The FCA’s cryptoasset gateway is the Part 7 filing window under SI 2026/102, not a conversion of an MLR, payments or e-money permission. The gateway page of September 22, 2026 says firms can apply from 7am on September 30, 2026, with the period expected to close on February 28, 2027. The February 20, 2026 direction sets the relevant application period from 9:00am that day to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027. Full commencement is October 25, 2027 under regulation 1(2). An in-window file that is still open can use regulation 53, including for an overseas group company, until that chapter’s two-year sunset. A later file gets only the regulation 56 run-off of existing contracts. On July 25, 2024 the FCA announced a £3,503,546 penalty against CB Payments Limited for breaching a restriction on high-risk customers.

FAQ

When does the FCA cryptoasset gateway open, and when does it close?

The gateway page, updated on September 22, 2026, says firms can apply from 7am on September 30, 2026, when the Connect form goes live. It expects the close on February 28, 2027. The February 20, 2026 direction sets the relevant application period from 9:00am that day to 11:59pm on February 28, 2027. Regulation 53 follows the direction. Firms may apply later. The FCA will not expedite those files.

What is the difference between the saving provision and the transitional provision?

Regulation 53 is the saving provision. It fits an in-window application that is undecided, or refused but still open to review, including in the Upper Tribunal, unless the FCA has moved the firm. The firm and an overseas group company are then treated, for that activity, as if Parts 3 to 6 were not in force. Regulation 56 allows only what a pre-existing contract requires. Both chapters end with the two-year period beginning on full commencement.

Does an MLR registration become FSMA authorisation on October 25, 2027?

No. The gateway page says registration under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 does not convert. The firm needs a Part 4A permission for the new activities. A payments or e-money permission does not convert either. A firm that already has Part 4A permission for other business files a variation if it wants to add a cryptoasset activity. None of those statuses is regulation 53. That provision turns on an application made during the relevant application period.

What happens if a firm does not apply before October 25, 2027?

The gateway page says the firm must run off its UK cryptoasset business before commencement. It gets neither the saving provision nor the transitional provision. Staying open is the section 19 case, or section 20 if an authorised firm acts outside permission. Section 23(1) makes breach of the general prohibition an offence, with up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine on indictment. Regulation 56 is for firms that applied, not for firms that never filed.

When does the new cryptoasset regime legally start?

Regulation 1(2) brings SI 2026/102 into force on October 25, 2027, called the full commencement day, subject to regulation 1(3). The February 20, 2026 direction repeats the date. Regulation 1(3) started some provisions 21 days after the instrument was made on February 4, 2026, so the FCA could make rules and take applications. That early start is not the start of the new activities. September 30, 2026 opens the filing window only. Full commencement stays October 25, 2027.

This article is informational analysis only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or investment advice. Regulatory frameworks change frequently and interpretation depends on facts and circumstances; primary documents and official regulator guidance always supersede summaries. Firms should consult qualified legal counsel and their relevant supervisory authority before taking any action based on the analysis above.