Key Takeaways
- Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi claims Britain’s FCA rules are overreaching and discouraging investors.
- The firm’s British customers reportedly can’t access around 75% of the products available to U.S. users.
- While the FCA defends its cautious approach, Sethi and other industry figures say the U.S. is speeding ahead.
Kraken’s Co-CEO has slammed the U.K. crypto industry, claiming it is being massively held back by overreaching rules and regulations.
The comments come as U.K. users reportedly cannot access 75% of Kraken’s U.S. services, with industry leaders warning that the U.S. is rapidly pulling ahead in crypto innovation.
Dire Warnings
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kraken co-chief executive Arjun Sethi said Britain’s rules on crypto marketing have created unnecessary friction for investors, likening the mandatory warnings to “cigarette box” labels.
“In the U.K. today, if you go to any crypto website, including Kraken’s, you see the equivalent to a cigarette box [warning] — ‘use this and you’re going to die’,” Sethi told the publication.
Introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in late 2023, the promotion rules require crypto firms to display prominent risk warnings and make customers complete “appropriateness assessments” before they can buy digital assets.
Regulators say the measures are designed to ensure consumers understand the risks before investing, but Sethi claims they’ve gone too far.
“Because of the speed at which they have to do the transaction, it’s worse for consumers,” he said, adding that while disclosures are essential, “if there are 14 steps, it’s worse.”
Sethi believes the rules are discouraging ordinary investors from accessing opportunities that are available elsewhere.
Attack On Kraken’s Crypto
These rules have been detrimental to Kraken’s coverage of the U.K. market, according to Sethi, who said its British users are unable to access around 75% of the products available to its U.S. customers.
The U.K. restrictions stand in sharp contrast to Kraken’s expansion efforts elsewhere.
Kraken recently completed a $100 million takeover of Small Exchange, a U.S. futures trading platform supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The deal gives Kraken a significant foothold in the tightly regulated American derivatives market, an area few global crypto firms have managed to enter.
Within the U.K., users have been unable to access services such as yield-earning and DeFi.
Donald Trump’s Impact
Britain’s regulators have come under increasing pressure from industry leaders to reconsider their tough stance, following Donald Trump’s loosening of risk sentiment in the U.S.
The FCA has strongly defended its stance, claiming the framework is not meant to penalize investors.
“Some consumers may make an informed decision that investing in crypto is not right for them — that is our rules working as intended,” the regulator said in response.
In an interview with CCN last month, an Animoca Brands executive claimed that Britain was getting “battered and bruised” while the U.S. was speeding ahead.
“We’re not faring too well as the U.K. right now,” Mohamed Ezeldin, Head of Tokenomics at Animoca Brands, said.
Adding: “We’re getting battered and bruised, absolutely, for sure.”
Ezeldin said that when Trump “says something, he will deliver, or deliver close enough to what he’s promised, for better or worse.”
“We’ve seen a President who is very controversial but also very stubborn in his ways,” he said.
“Part of his mandate is crypto,” Ezeldin added. “So the U.S. is actually in a much better position as of today for crypto, even though regulation is still lagging.”
Top Trending Crypto Articles
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
