UK FCA is Seeking Crypto Experts for a New Digital Currency Department

The UK financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced recently that it aims to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in the country. In order to do it, however, it will first have to launch a new crypto-oriented department that would research the industry and then come up with the best possible rules and guidelines for protecting investors while still allowing the industry to thrive.

The FCA is currently in the process of seeking senior executives with experience in the cryptocurrency sector who would form the new team.

The FCA is seeking crypto experts

This Monday, March 14th, the FCA took to LinkedIn to post a new job offer that shows that the financial watchdog is now looking for candidates interester in the position of the head of the digital assets department, as well as a director of the payments and digital assets department.

Both job postings require the candidates to have experience in the crypto field., with the head of digital assets position targeting those who would be accountable for leading the department’s approach to regulating the crypto industry. Furthermore, the position is expected to help the regulator with gaining a single narrative on crypto, as the job posting says.

Another thing worth noting is that the FCA expects the new role to establish the department for cryptocurrencies. The announcement indicates that the position will be of vital importance for the agency’s crypto supervision efforts. The FCA called it a “critical leadership role within a proposed new directorate dealing with emerging business models.”

The agency will be accepting applications for the position for the next few weeks, concluding the application period with April 3rd of this year.

The financial watchdog needs another position filled

As mentioned earlier, the agency is also looking to fill another position of payments and digital assets department director. According to the job posting, this role will include the responsibility for policy and supervision related to e-money, payments, and digital currency assets. In addition to that, it will also be in charge of supervising other emerging business models for the financial services industry as a whole.

Once again, the position requires the applicants to have as much knowledge and experience with digital currencies as possible, as well as with the relevant regulatory environment. Apart from cryptos themselves, this also includes any and all issues associated with cryptocurrency and payment companies.

Concerns regarding the crypto industry grow in the UK

It seems quite clear that the FCA is in a rush to set up the new dedicated crypto department and have it start working on creating new regulations for the digital currency industry. The efforts were motivated by the regulator’s growing concerns about the supervision of the digital currency industry.

The agency also made other moves recently that were motivated by these concerns, including issuing the order to shut down Bitcoin ATM operators in the country. It justified this by saying that it is necessary in order to prevent money laundering.

Then, last Friday, all UK-headquartered financial services firms — which includes the ones dealing with cryptocurrencies — were notified that they must comply with sanctions against Russia. Similar requests were made from other countries’ regulators and authorities, with one such request being sent to Binance. The exchange responded that it would be more than willing to ban specific individuals from using its services, but that it will not do it for the entire country and all of its citizens.