UK financial regulator to give green light to blockchain firms

Blockchain companies have attracted a lot of attention, although uncertainty still exists when it comes to regulation. In the UK, financial regulators are considering approving several blockchain companies that use bitcoin technology, a sign that the legality of blockchain technology is no longer in doubt.

UK financial regulator gives blockchain firms the green light

For bitcoin companies around the world, the search for an open-minded regulator has been a difficult one. Most regulators have been unimpressed by the concept of cryptocurrencies, and on the other hand, regulators have so far been rather cool to blockchain technology.

It is reported that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans to give the green light to various small blockchain companies in the coming months. More precisely, several groups in the FCA's pre-approval stage are studying blockchain technology projects. For now, these tools are mainly focused on consumer services and regulatory products.

Chris Woolard, head of strategy and competition at the FCA, said:

“We think there are some potentially interesting applications for blockchain and we’re talking to a number of companies about how it can be applied to financial services and how it can benefit consumers or indeed make it easier to regulate business. And there are also areas where it may be that we want to encourage.”

This is good news because there are currently no blockchain solutions that can be integrated into business activities. Many projects are still in the proof of concept stage, but this situation will change in the short term. It is reported that Ripple is one of the companies that has been released and is integrating their solution into the banking system.

Interestingly, more than half of the existing blockchain projects focus on financial services, which is not entirely surprising as blockchain will save a lot of money and transactions could be significantly improved. The UK government hopes that new companies and technologies will challenge the current financial ecosystem and provide a better user experience.