FINRA Unveils Crypto Guidelines for Members
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a set of crypto-asset guidelines to its member firms.
According to the industry’s self-regulator, it has been collecting data on how broker-dealers use, or plan to use, cryptocurrency since 2020. That information shows that member firms have been involved in crypto asset-related activities both directly and indirectly, ranging from private placements of crypto asset securities to proprietary trading of crypto assets, or distributed ledger technology initiatives for traditional securities, to affiliating with third parties to provide their customers with access to crypto.
FINRA announced the formation of the Crypto Asset Investigations team, Crypto Asset Surveillance team, Blockchain Lab, and Crypto Hub.
The newly launched Crypto Assets key topics page aims to provide an overview of FINRA’s work, including current developments at the industry watchdog, as well as podcasts and investor education articles covering the fundamentals of bitcoin and blockchain, storing crypto assets, and crypto-related stock scams, among other things.
The page also includes crypto-related alerts and news releases, as well as a guidance part intended to show some of the inner workings of the teams Finra established for its crypto asset-related regulatory activity, as well as announcements about targeted exams and more.
FINRA also reminded existing and prospective members that any firm planning to participate in crypto asset-related operations must first get approval from the industry watchdog.