Global payment giant PayPal has received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer crypto services in the United Kingdom.
According to official FCA data, PayPal has been registered to offer “certain crypto asset activities” in the U.K. since Oct. 31, 2023.
According to the register, PayPal has requirements or restrictions placed on the financial services activities that it can operate.
“This includes, but is not limited to, ceasing on-boarding new customers and restricting existing customers to hold and sell functionality,” the information on the FCA register reads.
“The firm cannot expand its current offering in crypto assets,” the register notes, adding that it’s “including, but not limited” to crypto exchange services, participation in initial coin offerings, staking, peer-to-peer exchange and decentralized finance activities such as lending and borrowing.
PayPal reportedly became the fourth firm to receive the FCA’s crypto registration in 2023 after Interactive Brokers, Bitstamp and Komainu. The license acquisition comes shortly after PayPal briefly paused the ability for its U.K. customers to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in early October. The firm told Cointelegraph in August…