FCA opens UK crypto authorization gateway with Feb 28, 2027 deadline

The Financial Conduct Authority opened its cryptoasset authorization gateway on September 30, 2026, giving UK-based firms exactly five months to file before the February 28, 2027 deadline, according to the regulator's own press release. The new perimeter — set out in the FCA's June 2026 policy statement — takes effect on October 25, 2027. Firms already registered under the Money Laundering Regulations do not carry that status over: authorization is a fresh permission, and MLR-only firms have to apply again. The Block and CoinDesk both confirm the opening and deadline.

What the gateway covers

The regime extends the FSMA regulatory perimeter to a broad set of cryptoasset activities:

• Operating a cryptoasset trading platform
• Cryptoasset custody
• Dealing in cryptoassets as principal or agent
• Arranging deals in cryptoassets
• Cryptoasset staking
• Issuance of qualifying stablecoins

Each carries its own authorization threshold: consumer-protection standards, client-asset safeguarding, market-integrity rules, prudential requirements, and the FCA's cryptoasset admissions and disclosure regime.

Dominic Cashman, director of authorisation at the FCA, framed the launch in the release:

"The UK's new crypto regime will give consumers greater protections and firms a clear framework to operate in."

The transitional carve-out that actually matters

The FCA published a saving provision alongside the gateway: firms that submit a completed application inside the September 30 – February 28 window can keep providing cryptoasset services — and take on new business — while the FCA decides their case, provided the decision has not landed before October 25, 2027. Firms that miss the window and sit outside the transitional provisions face a hard stop: they wind down UK cryptoasset operations before the regime begins.

That is the design pressure. The FCA is not letting the regime backslide into a rolling authorization queue past the switch-on date; it is compressing every incumbent into a single five-month intake so the perimeter goes live with a defined universe of authorized entities. MLR-registered firms that assumed a passporting-style rollover will not get one.

Numbers block

• Gateway opens: September 30, 2026 (07:00 UK time)
• Application deadline: February 28, 2027
• Regime effective: October 25, 2027
• Duration of application window: ~5 months
• Rulebook: FCA final crypto rules and guidance, published June 2026
• Existing regime superseded: Money Laundering Regulations 2017 cryptoasset registration
• Sources: FCA press release, The Block, CoinDesk

What to watch

1. Application volume in the first six weeks. The FCA has said it expects a bunched intake around the deadline. A small early-cohort implies most incumbents are still auditing gaps against the June rulebook — and increases the risk that late applicants get caught by the switch-on date without a decision.
2. Qualifying stablecoin approvals. Stablecoin issuance is the perimeter's most contentious piece; the first UK-authorized qualifying stablecoin will be a reference point for how the FCA reads reserve, redemption and safeguarding rules under the new regime.
3. Overlap with the Payment Services Regulations. Firms already regulated as EMIs or PIs still need separate cryptoasset permissions where their activities cross into the perimeter — the FCA has explicitly said existing authorizations do not automatically convert.

Context

The UK is opening its regime nine months after MiCA's transitional period expired on the Continent. The two frameworks are not equivalent: MiCA is a passporting regime coordinated at ESMA level; the UK's is a purely domestic authorization with no automatic recognition of MiCA CASPs. UK firms that also serve EU clients — and vice versa — face parallel filings and, in many cases, parallel governance structures. Firms that spent 2025 chasing MiCA authorization will re-open a compliance workstream this quarter to hit the FCA gate before February.