The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a public notice against Retardio, a popular Solana-based meme coin, suggesting it may be offering or promoting financial services without the necessary regulatory approval. The announcement, made on December 16, cautioned that investors engaging with Retardio are excluded from protections provided by the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The FCA’s warning indicates that if Retardio were to go out of business, investors would likely not be able to recover their funds. Despite this, the meme coin experienced a 16% price surge following the notice, bringing its market cap to $111 million, although it had previously peaked at nearly $240 million. The news sparked a wave of memes and jokes from the Retardio community on social media.
This notice follows a similar action against Pump.fun, a meme coin launchpad, earlier in December, which led to restricted platform access for U.K. users.
FCA’s Increased Crypto Scrutiny Ahead of 2025 Regulations
In addition to the Retardio warning, the FCA released a paper on December 16 proposing tighter restrictions on public crypto offers. The regulator intends to ban unregulated firms from providing services, building on its 2023 ban of digital asset promotions targeting U.K. investors.
The U.K. government plans to introduce comprehensive crypto regulations by 2025, with stablecoins and staking likely to be included in the new policies. Industry experts, including Brett Hillis of On Chain, argue that Britain must standardize its digital asset frameworks, especially as the country holds significant Bitcoin holdings, primarily from criminal seizures.
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