The Financial Conduct Authority has published final rules banning the sale of derivatives and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) that reference certain types of cryptoassets to retail consumers, including bitcoin, ether and ripple. The FCA estimates that retail consumers will save around £53 million ($68.7mn) from the ban on these products. The ban will come into effect on 6 January 2021.
Sheldon Mills, interim executive director of Strategy & Competition at the FCA, said in a statement: “Significant price volatility, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places retail consumers at a high risk of suffering losses from trading crypto-derivatives. We have evidence of this happening on a significant scale. The ban provides an appropriate level of protection.”