Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has proposed that crypto firms treat enhanced due diligence on transfers involving personal, or unhosted, wallets as good practice. The suggestion forms part of nonbinding draft guidance on financial-crime controls and would apply when a customer sends crypto from a wallet they control to a UK-regulated firm.
Consultation sets out proposed approach
The FCA opened consultation CP26/38 on October 23, with responses due by December 24, 2026. The consultation proposes updates to the regulator’s Financial Crime Guide, including examples of how firms should assess crypto transfers and design monitoring controls.
Enhanced due diligence refers to more intensive checks than a firm would normally apply. In the example outlined by the FCA, a receiving business could examine a transfer arriving from a customer’s personal wallet as part of its existing financial-crime procedures.
The guidance would not itself create new rules. The FCA says the Financial Crime Guide contains no binding requirements, although firms are expected to read and consider it when establishing effective controls. A firm’s decision not to follow the guidance would not, by itself, demonstrate a breach of FCA rules.
According to CryptoSlate, the proposal is aimed partly at how firms make and explain risk-based decisions, rather than simply requiring a particular check for every transaction.
FCA challenges unexplained scores and rigid tracing
The draft also addresses the tools and methods firms use to monitor transactions. It identifies as poor practice relying on third-party technology when a firm cannot explain or provide evidence for the basis of the technology’s findings or risk scores.
The regulator separately criticizes inflexible rules governing how many transaction “hops”—the steps between transfers—a firm investigates. The concern is not the use of a numerical tracing limit on its own. Instead, the FCA objects to a limit that does not reflect the risk associated with a particular transaction.
These proposals sit alongside existing obligations. Under the UK Travel Rule, cryptoasset businesses have been required since September 1, 2023, to collect, verify and share information about transfers. The FCA also says a firm remains responsible for compliance when it uses an outside supplier.
What happens next
The consultation applies to firms supervised by the FCA for financial-crime purposes, including cryptoasset businesses covered by the Money Laundering Regulations. After the consultation closes, the regulator plans to review submissions and issue a Policy Statement containing feedback and the final Guide text. It has not given a publication date for that document.
The FCA does not expect the proposed updates to materially increase compliance activity or consumer costs, or to materially alter firms’ products and services. It describes the changes as clarifying existing expectations and established practice.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 25 October 2026, 22:38 (+03:30), showed the following prices and performance:
- Plasma (XPL): $0.0738233787, up 0.12% over 24 hours and down 2.89% over seven days.
- OriginTrail (TRAC): $0.3709267304, down 3.98% over 24 hours and 5.10% over seven days.
- Nexus (NEX): $0.0000006151, up 1.61% over 24 hours and down 13.97% over seven days.
- Walrus (WAL): $0.0343190471, down 0.30% over 24 hours and 11.97% over seven days.
