The UK financial regulator has warned that cryptocurrency exchange FTX is operating in the UK without authorisation.
The Financial Conduct Authority warned people against using the exchange.
“This firm is not authorised by us and is targeting people in the UK… [you] will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so you are unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong,” it said of people using FTX in the UK.
In a bizarre twist, an FTX spokesperson told Bloomberg that phone numbers listed by the FCA do not belong to FTX and are associated with a crypto scam. FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried subsequently tweeted a warning about this.
Heads up: a scammer has been impersonating FTX in the UK by phone! Please only use https://t.co/ZcBNEuyQvH, https://t.co/6mG6iOFv3o, https://t.co/X88vVFRKde, etc. to access FTX, and do not respond to any phone numbers etc. FTX will never call you by phone.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) September 19, 2022
Fellow exchanges Crypto.com, Kraken and Gemini are among almost 40 companies registered to operate in the UK, which is taking a hard line on the unregulated world of crypto.
The FCA barred Binance from operating in the UK last year, citing a “a significant risk to consumers”. The world’s largest exchange is in the process of reapplying for UK approval.
FTX recently gained a licence to operate in the European Union from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Securing this licence in the European Union is an important step in achieving our goal of becoming one of the most regulated exchanges in the world,” said Bankman-Fried.