In these fog-draped isles of regulation, the FCA-Britain’s own pedantic but lovable watchdog-has decided to haul HTX, a crypto exchange, into court for hawking promotions to dear UK folk that were a touch too audacious for proper taste.
HTX Finds Itself in Hot Water Under FCA Watch
The regulator’s missive, posted with the precision of a clerk who has misplaced his spectacles, explains that HTX has not kept to the FCA’s digital asset promotion rules, which came into force in October 2023. The upshot is tidy enough: firms peddling crypto to UK consumers must play fair and avoid marketing that smells of shenanigans; the FCA’s own words, refined and polished, warn against unfair and misleading promotion.
The rules kicked off last October, and since then most firms have done the decent thing and complied. HTX, however, had previously been warned about illegal promotions aimed at UK consumers, yet pressed on with its online and social-media serenade to potential customers.
“HTX’s conduct stands in stark contrast to the majority of firms working to comply with the FCA’s regime,” commented Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA. A bit of a tongue-lifter, you might say, before the counting of regulatory sausages begins.
HTX, formerly known as Huobi, hails from China and now runs offices in various climes. The FCA calls the platform’s organisational arrangement “opaque,” with owners and website operators remaining as elusive as the plot of a seaside mystery, and the regulator’s attempts to strike up a conversation with the firm met with nothing but a polite, inconsequential flutter of the curtains.
Once the proceedings were set in motion, HTX has barred new UK-based accounts. Yet existing users may still log in, and there’s no assurance that these changes are permanent, which keeps the regulator awake at night with little more than a glass of something strong and a pencil to worry with.
“This is the first time we’ve taken enforcement action against a crypto firm illegally marketing their products to UK consumers,” noted Smart. Alongside the legal action, the FCA has urged Google Play and the Apple stores to pull HTX’s apps from the UK, and has asked social media platforms to block the exchange’s accounts from UK users as if they were a particularly persistent seaside impostor.
Although HTX’s ownership remains shrouded, a publicly associated name is billionaire Justin Sun, who sits as a global advisor. Sun’s name, however, does not appear in FCA’s lawsuit.
In other news, Coinbase Advanced witnessed net outflows of stablecoins, as CryptoQuant’s Darkfrost observed on X. Stablecoins, those tame tokens pegged to fiat, are typically the retreat route when traders fancy a dull moment away from the volatility of giants like Bitcoin.
From the chart, the eye notes a recent reverse: stablecoins are flowing back into Coinbase Advanced, a possible sign that US-based whales are slipping into the calmer waters of the stable side once again.
Bitcoin Price
As the variegated market winds blow, Bitcoin is hovering around $68,700, down about 6% over the past week.
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2026-02-11 11:32