Wintermute wins approval for UK’s crypto register as deadline approaches

Crypto market maker Wintermute has made it onto the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) cryptoasset register.

Wintermute has significant heft within crypto markets, with a cumulative trading volume of $1.72 trillion since January 2020, according to its website. It offers more than 5,000 trading pairs. 

It has taken more than a year and a half of back and forth with the FCA to get the application — which covers the firm’s over-the-counter (OTC) spot business — approved.

“Wintermute has always held itself to the highest compliance standards and have built rigorous KYC-AML processes,” said the company’s chief operating officer Marina Gurevich. 

The approval comes as the fate of many firms’ UK operations hang in the balance. Earlier in February, 96 firms were awaiting decisions as to whether they would be admitted to the register before the March 31 deadline. The FCA currently has its work cut out processing approvals and rejections. 

Wintermute’s OTC spot business has grown considerably in recent years to provide prices across 250 tokens. The platform works with retail platforms, brokers, institutional investors, as well as blockchain projects, treasuries and “qualified investor” high net worth individuals.

Its OTC derivatives business is done from the business’s Asian hub in Singapore.