The UK authorities decided to bring order to the cryptocurrency world. The first step towards order was a ban on the sale of crypto-derivatives and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) to retail traders.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority considers that these products are ill-suited to retail consumers who cannot reliably assess the risks of derivatives based on crypto-assets. The ban is set to come into force on January 6, 2021. On the one hand, this measure is intended to protect ordinary market participants. On the other hand, it puts them at risk. Such a ban will force British investors to leave their home trading floors and use unregulated providers offering less protection. This means that the risk of suffering huge losses will be higher. In the meantime, the regulator is confident that this initiative "could reduce harm by £19m to £101m a year for retail investors". The FCA notes that these changes concern BTC, ETH, and XRP.
The UK is not the only country trying to split investors into qualified and non-qualified. A number of central banks around the world are engaged in seeking a solution to protect unqualified investors from risky financial investments. However, the criteria for identifying qualified and non-qualified investors are rather weird.
