(Adds further FCA statement in paragraph 2)
By Huw Jones
LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Crypto broker CoinBurp is not
fully authorised before Monday's planned launch of its $BURP
token and initial exchange offering, Britain's Financial Conduct
Authority (FCA) said on Sunday, in its latest crack down on
crypto trading.
But the FCA said CoinBurp could start business under its
temporary registration, provided it had the correct controls in
place.
CoinBurp said last week it had raised $6 million to build a
platform to buy and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital
assets that are attracting interest from some investors and
scrutiny from regulators worried about the risks.
CoinBurp, which says on its website "$BURP is coming!", said
it would issue a full statement later.
The FCA said in its statement: "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."
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.
"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 their money in crypto assets.
In June, the FCA said Binance, one of the world's largest
cryptocurrency exchanges, could not 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 and Edmund
Blair)