FCA stops crypto promotions by HTX exchange with High Court order - Investment Week

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has obtained a High Court order against HTX, the crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi, to stop it promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers. The action follows the FCA's current rules requiring crypto firms to be authorised or to rely on an authorised firm's approval for financial promotions.

The case matters beyond one exchange. It signals that the regulator is willing to escalate from warnings to court action when firms promote crypto products without meeting UK requirements. For UK users, promotions from unauthorised offshore platforms should be treated with caution, since recourse and consumer protections may be limited.

What to watch: whether other platforms named on the FCA's warning list face similar enforcement, and how the regulator applies its promotion rules to firms operating from outside the UK. For market participants, the development reinforces that compliance with local promotion regimes is becoming a condition of access to major markets, not an optional extra.