Robinhood Joins UK Crypto Register After Years of False Starts, Ahead of 2027 Regulatory Overhaul
Robinhood Joins UK Crypto Register After Years of False Starts, Ahead of 2027 Regulatory Overhaul #
Robinhood has secured a place on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s cryptoasset register, allowing the US trading platform to offer digital asset services to British customers for the first time.
The company’s UK subsidiary, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, was formally added to the FCA’s list of registered cryptoasset firms on July 31, according to the regulator’s records. The listing, under reference number FRN 823590, means Robinhood now meets the FCA’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements for crypto firms, covering services such as arranging and transmitting orders for cryptoasset transactions. No formal public announcement accompanied the move; industry observers monitoring changes to the FCA register identified it.
The registration places Robinhood alongside more than 50 approved firms, including Ripple, Kraken, Revolut, PayPal, and traditional finance firms such as BlackRock and BNY Mellon. For Robinhood, the approval extends a UK presence that has until now been confined largely to commission-free stock trading, futures, and a stocks and shares ISA added over the past year.
The path was not straightforward. The company shelved its original UK launch in 2020, leaving a waitlist of around 250,000 prospective customers. A later attempt to acquire FCA-registered crypto platform Ziglu in 2022 also failed when the deal collapsed. This registration marks the first time Robinhood has secured a direct regulatory foothold in UK digital assets under its own name.
The registration comes ahead of a broader overhaul of UK crypto rules. The incoming framework, which will impose stricter market integrity standards and rules for stablecoins, is set to take effect in October 2027. Firms will need to submit full licence applications during a five-month window opening in late September 2026 and closing in February 2027. Current MLR registrations, including Robinhood’s, do not automatically convert into the new authorisation, so the company will need to apply separately.
Firms already on the FCA register are generally seen as better placed to navigate that process, having completed significant compliance groundwork. Competition in the UK’s regulated crypto space is growing, with eToro and Interactive Brokers among the firms on the same register.
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