Kraken’s Sethi Slams FCA Crypto Rules, Eyes US Expansion

Published: 2025-11-16 23:37:53 |

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi has strongly criticized the UK’s FCA crypto rules, calling the 2023 promotion framework overly strict and counterproductive. Under these FCA crypto rules, platforms must display prominent risk warnings and enforce mandatory “positive friction” questionnaires before retail trading. Sethi warns they slow transactions, deter investors, and block UK clients from over 75% of products available to U.S. users, including yield and DeFi offerings. The backlash follows the FCA’s ban on Coinbase’s “Everything Is Fine” ad and the Bank of England’s proposal to cap individual stablecoin holdings. The FCA defends the rules as essential safeguards. Despite these hurdles, Kraken pursues global growth, planning a New York listing and recently acquiring the CFTC-regulated Small Exchange for $100 million.

Neutral

While FCA crypto rules introduce stricter safeguards that may dampen UK trading activity and limit product access, Kraken’s planned New York listing and $100M acquisition of Small Exchange signal strong growth ambitions. This mix of regulatory headwinds and expansion efforts balances out to a neutral impact on market sentiment and trading dynamics.