Robinhood Wins UK Crypto Registration After Its First Attempt Fell Apart

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Robinhood’s UK subsidiary was added to the FCA’s registered cryptoasset companies list as of July 31, 2026. The listing appears on the regulator’s own register: Robinhood U.K. Ltd (FRN 823590) now carries a Money Laundering Regulations cryptoasset registration alongside its existing broker authorization, dated separately from that original 2019 approval.

That distinction sits behind the headline fact. Robinhood didn’t need this registration to run its UK brokerage. It needed it for crypto specifically, and until now, it didn’t have it.

What Robinhood’s Registration Actually Clears, and What It Doesn’t

MLR registration is an anti-money-laundering gateway, not a green light to launch. It’s the FCA’s mechanism for supervising AML and counter-terrorism-financing compliance at firms handling cryptoasset exchange or custody services, and it’s been required since January 2020. It is not the same as full authorization under the incoming FSMA cryptoasset regime, which the FCA finalized in policy statements published June 30, 2026 and which takes effect October 25, 2027. Applications for that broader authorization don’t even open until September 30 this year.

So the obstacle Robinhood just cleared is specifically the compliance bar that sits ahead of the real regime. A firm can be MLR-registered now and still need to separately apply for FSMA authorization once that gateway opens. Registering now, rather than waiting fourteen months for the FSMA window, gives Robinhood operational standing in the UK crypto market before the more demanding regime, and the competitors already inside it, arrive.

The deal that didn’t happen

This isn’t Robinhood’s first run at this. In April 2022, it signed an agreement to acquire Ziglu, a UK electronic-money institution that already held its own FCA crypto registration. The logic was straightforward: buying a firm that had already cleared the AML bar was faster than clearing it yourself.

Public reporting indicates Robinhood’s offer was cut sharply from the deal’s original terms, and the acquisition was abandoned. Ziglu continued operating independently until 2025. According to the FCA, restrictions were placed on Ziglu in May of that year relating to specific products; the following month, Ziglu’s directors applied to court for special administration citing insolvency, and by July, joint administrators had been appointed to handle customer claims.

Robinhood has used that same buy-rather-than-build approach successfully elsewhere: in June 2026, it completed its acquisition of Canadian exchange WonderFi, gaining two regulated exchanges and market access in Canada in a single move. This month’s registration follows an earlier attempt at the same outcome: the 2022 Ziglu acquisition, which collapsed along with the company on the other end of it.

Robinhood Still Hasn’t Named a UK Crypto Launch Date

Registration is a precondition, not a product. Robinhood said as recently as July 1, at a London event where it also confirmed a public mainnet launch for its own Layer-2 chain, that it was

“planning to launch crypto in the UK soon,”

without committing to a date. That statement came as part of a broader international update covering Robinhood’s European derivatives expansion, its Canada and Singapore moves, and the UK crypto plan together. That statement predates this registration and was framed around the launch generally, not this specific compliance step; Robinhood’s public statements to date address the broader launch plan, not this registration itself. No launch date has been announced, so the practical effect of this week’s news is that Robinhood has closed a gap between its UK stock-trading product and the crypto access it’s been signaling for over a year, not that UK users can trade crypto on the platform today.

FAQ

Does this mean Robinhood UK crypto trading is live now?
No. MLR registration is a compliance precondition; Robinhood hasn’t announced a launch date for the product itself.

Is this the same as full FCA authorization?
No. It’s registration under the Money Laundering Regulations, distinct from authorization under the new FSMA cryptoasset regime, which won’t be available to apply for until September 30, 2026, and doesn’t take effect until October 25, 2027.

Why didn’t Robinhood just use Ziglu, which it tried to buy in 2022?
That deal collapsed after Robinhood reduced its offer. Ziglu later entered special administration in 2025, according to the FCA, and no longer operates as a going concern.